Palace questions timing, data of SWS poll on gov’t ‘inaction’ on South China Sea row
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang questioned on Tuesday the timing of a new opinion poll released on the first day of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Manila visit, which showed growing opposition to the government’s perceived inaction on China’s maritime encroachment in the South China Sea.
The Philippines claims parts of the South China Sea and calls it the West Philippine Sea.
A September 15 to 23 Social Weather Stations survey of 1,500 adults found 84 percent of respondents protesting the Philippine government’s apparent neglect of the country’s sovereign rights to resources in the disputed waters, where China has been aggressively staking its claim.
That was three points higher than the 81 percent recorded in the June reading.
In a statement, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Palace finds the timing of the non-commissioned survey “suspect.”
Panelo also said the questionnaire used by the SWS was “flawed,” adding that the “reliability of the data is in question.”
“This adds credence to the commonly-held belief that polling firms could be wittingly or unwittingly used for partisan purposes,” the Palace spokesman said.
“We consider the question skewed as it misleads the public to believe and suggests that the current government has not acted on China’s activities on the disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea. This is far from the truth,” he added.
'Own initiative'
Ties between the Philippines and China have significantly improved under President Rodrigo Duterte, who has set aside a ruling from a United Nations-backed tribunal that invalidated Beijing’s claim to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.
Philippine officials were hopeful Xi’s visit would help hasten the implementation of China-backed infrastructure projects, amid concerns the Duterte administration’s pivot to Beijing only undermined the country’s sovereignty and is not paying off.
Duterte has been under fire over his apparent refusal to confront China, which has landed nuclear-capable strategic bombers and installed missile systems on its man-made islands in the contested waters.
The Philippine leader earlier said it’s pointless to protest Beijing’s deployment of its air assets to the strategic waterway and dared his critics to “go to war with China.”
According to the same SWS poll, Filipinos’ trust in China improved to “poor” -16 in September, up by 19 points from “bad” -35 previously.
The pollster also noted in its report that the survey on Filipinos’ opinion about the West Philippine Sea conflict was part of its “own initiative and released as a public service.”
Last May, the Department of Foreign Affairs aired “very serious concern” over China’s deployment of strike aircraft in the South China Sea, although the response was silent on Beijing’s installation of missile systems on three Manila-claimed reefs.
The DFA added that its diplomatic actions to certain developments in the sea row might not be publicized. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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