SWS: 47% of Filipinos say it is dangerous to publicly criticize the Marcos Jr. admin
MANILA, Philippines — A survey by Social Weather Stations released Tuesday showed that around 47% or nearly half of adult Filipinos considered it dangerous to release content critical of the Marcos Jr. administration.
According to a survey conducted by the private pollster in mid-December, more Filipinos agree that it is dangerous to publish or broadcast anything unfavorable against the Marcos Jr. administration (47%) than those who said they were undecided (27%) or disagreed (26%).
Compared to the results of the same survey conducted in December 2021, the share of Filipinos who disagreed with the statement rose by four percentage points (22%), while the share of Filipinos who agreed is nearly the same.
"As part of its monitoring of Filipinos' quality of life, SWS regularly assesses respondents' opinions on the state of press freedom in the country," SWS said.
Across all regions where the survey was conducted, net agreement with the statement (% agree minus % disagree) is highest in Metro Manila (+28). This is followed by Visayas (+23) and Balance Luzon (+21).
While net agreement is lowest in Mindanao (+13), this is still higher compared to the net agreement tallied in the region in 2021, which was only at +7, according to SWS’ face-to-face survey with 1,200 Filipino adults.
The Philippines’ latest standing in the World Press Freedom Index (132nd out of 180 countries) has crept up by 15 notches compared to 2022. But the country still remains “difficult” for journalists, Reporters Without Borders said on May 4.
A few days after World Press Freedom Day, Human Rights Watch sounded alarm bells over the rampant red-tagging of journalists in a publicly aired episode of a show aired over SMNI, which included an editor of Philstar.com.
RELATED: HRW raises alarm over red-tagging of journalists in SMNI show
— with reports from Xave Gregorio
- Latest
- Trending
