47% say ‘dangerous’ to publish anything critical of government

MANILA, Philippines — Several months into the second Marcos administration, about one in every two adult Filipinos still thinks that it is dangerous to publish or broadcast anything critical of the government, a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) at the end of 2022 showed.

Results of the Dec. 10 to 14, 2022 survey released a week after World Press Freedom Day on May 3 showed that 47 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, “It is dangerous to print or broadcast anything critical of the administration, even if it is the truth.”

This figure is comprised of 19 percent who said they “strongly agree” with the statement and 28 percent who said they “somewhat agree.”

Some 26 percent of respondents disagreed (14 percent “somewhat disagree,” 12 percent “strongly disagree”), while 27 percent were undecided.

Those who believe it is dangerous to publish information critical of the administration barely moved from the 46 percent obtained in a similar survey December 2021 (13 percent strongly agree, 34 percent somewhat agree), when the government was still headed by former president Rodrigo Duterte.

SWS data showed that it went as high as 65 percent in November 2020, before dropping to 42 percent in May 2021 and 45 percent in June and September 2021.

Meanwhile, the number of those who think that it is not dangerous to publish information critical of the government increased from 19 percent in September 2021 (12 percent somewhat disagree, six percent strongly disagree) to 22 percent in December 2021 (16 percent somewhat disagree, five percent strongly disagree).