Comelec: No Pasig transparency survey

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections has nothing to do with a “transparency survey” of mayoral candidates in Pasig City for the 2022 elections, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said yesterday.

“The Comelec has not commissioned or participated in any ‘transparency survey.’ Nor have I been able to verify this infographic’s authenticity with the SWS,” Jimenez tweeted, referring to the survey firm Social Weather Stations.

Jimenez was reacting to an infographic of a survey supposedly conducted from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1 wherein Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto received a 52 percent trust rating compared to the 47 percent received by his rival, Vice Mayor Iyo Caruncho.

The purported survey said one percent of the respondents are undecided.

The infographic claimed that the survey was conducted by “SWS PasigPH Chapter” of Districts 1 and 2 in Pasig City with the “Comelec-Philippines Transparency Survey” as the alleged source of the information used during the survey.

“Not aware of this. As a matter of policy, Comelec ought to avoid any appearance of partiality so, this bears looking into,” he added when Twitter user Quin Cruz asked about the survey.

The SWS, on the other hand, reminded the public yesterday that “false reportage about SWS surveys is very common in the period leading up to an election.”

“Everyone is enjoined to rely only on the SWS website at www.sws.org.ph for its survey reports released to the public. SWS does not entertain inquiries about survey reports that are not posted on the SWS website,” the survey firm added.– Janvic Mateo