SWS defends question used in presidential poll

MANILA, Philippines - The Social Weather Stations (SWS) defended yesterday the question it used in its latest presidential survey, which showed Sen. Grace Poe still on top with former interior secretary Manuel Roxas II overtaking Vice President Jejomar Binay in second spot.

SWS information officer Leo Larroza clarified that the survey results do not substitute the actual election process.

He said the survey aims to get the people’s preferred leaders to succeed President Aquino and not the candidate who would win the 2016 presidential elections.

“We are reporting it as it is. We were asking the best leaders (to succeed Aquino in 2016), that exact question. Nowhere in that question is the word ‘vote’,” Larroza told The STAR in a phone interview.

He said they have been using the question in their presidential surveys since 2007.

The question is asked both in English and Filipino.

“Everyone is free to interpret the data. It’s not trying to substitute the actual election process,” he said.

He said they would stop using the questionnaire once the Commission on Elections (Comelec) releases the official list of candidates in 2016.

“We’re not giving a list of our own. We’re not forcing the people to choose,” he said.

Larroza said 45 percent of 1,200 respondents gave one name, 31 percent gave two names and 17 percent gave three names of their preferred successor of Aquino.

Too early to celebrate

Meanwhile, two senators running for higher office in next year’s elections said it is too early for any of the three presidential aspirants to celebrate, based on the results of the latest survey of the SWS.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said that the methodology used by the SWS was invalid because it asked the respondents to choose three candidates for president when the reality is that only one would be elected.

“In pre-election surveys, a question that asks you to provide three names for a position that is only for one person is not valid and therefore has no value,” Trillanes said.

“The only thing that has value there is the first choice because during elections, it’s the name that counts,” he added.

Based on what SWS has been presenting, Trillanes said that it can only be used for propaganda purposes by certain candidates and nothing more.

“This is just giving false hope to those who have been getting low scores if the respondents were asked to choose one only,” Trillanes said.

He said that all three candidates would now appear to have high ratings and consequently, have equally strong chances to win the election and so “they are just fooling themselves with this.”

Trillanes said that he personally does not believe in surveys since they have historically made so many mistakes in their forecasts of election winners.

He cited his case in particular, because he always performed poorly in surveys and was never given a chance to win in the senatorial elections.

“So I can’t possibly start believing in their methodology if they missed me. They missed several times,” Trillanes said.

No real gauge

Sen. Francis Escudero said that the electorate must not be swayed by the results of the survey because it does not show who among the three candidates is actually leading.

Unlike Trillanes, Escudero said that he was not questioning the methodology used by the SWS, which he said was accurate based on the question asked.

But as a gauge for who among the three candidates is leading, Escudero said that the survey would not show this.

Both Trillanes and Escudero pointed out that the SWS survey, based on the question asked, would have the total “votes” going over 100 percent.

Escudero said that the SWS survey should not be compared to other surveys, such as the ones conducted by Pulse Asia, because the others ask the respondents for their choice on a one-to-one basis.

Too much at stake

Senate President Franklin Drilon, for his part, downplayed the questions raised on the methodology used by SWS.

“SWS has been in this business for decades and I am sure that they will not soil their reputation by one survey. They have a name to protect,” Drilon said.

“Do you think SWS will allow itself to be used as a propaganda for Secretary Mar (Roxas)? They have too much at stake,” he said.

Parañaque City Rep. Gustavo Tambunting said he does not agree with the way the poll was done “because you don’t choose three names when you vote for a president.”

Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said the survey “is tailored to make the third and fourth placers come out first.” – Helen Flores, Marvin Sy, Paolo Romero