More than two in three respondents, or 67 percent, to a Pulse Asia survey indicated they do not support the proposed revision of the 1987 Constitution but the same poll showed 74 percent have little or no knowledge of the charter.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the survey results only indicated a more focused information campaign is needed to sway public opinion in favor of charter change (cha-cha) that will pave the way for the shift to a federal form of government.

A similar result was obtained in the survey regarding questions on the federal system of government in which 62 percent of respondents said they were not in favor of the shift to a federal government but 74 percent have “little to no knowledge” of the proposed shift.

“There is clearly much work to be done in terms of spreading awareness and knowledge on the aforementioned issues,” Roque said.

He added Malacañang recognizes the results of the Pulse Asia survey and to which it intends to apply the appropriate response.

In the June 15 to 21 Pulse Asia survey on the proposal to amend the 1987 Constitution, it showed 67 percent of respondents against Cha-cha are composed of 37 percent who are against the proposal at this point while 30 percent said changing the Constitution should not be done at all.

Eighteen percent of the respondents agreed that the Constitution should be amended now and 28 percent were in favor of changing the system of government in the country to federalism.

“We would like to point out that only 26 percent of respondents have heard, read, or watched anything about the proposals to change the 1987 Constitution before the survey was conducted or [that they learned about the Charter] during the time the survey was held. Also, 71 percent of respondents admitted little awareness of the proposed federal system of government,” Roque said.

For such reasons, the Palace official said it is understandable for the survey to come up with such results.

“We cannot expect our people to support an initiative which they know only little about,” he added.

“We will therefore exert even more effort to inform and educate our citizens about federalism since the approval of the proposed changes in our current Charter ultimately lies in the hands of the Filipino people,” Roque added.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the Filipino people have spoken against attempts to change the Constitution as a result of the survey.

“The leadership of both houses of Congress must take into account this overwhelming sentiment of the people,” he added.

“The fact that opposition to Charter change increased in the last quarter despite the aggressive campaign and information drive on Charter change for the past months speaks of the people’s strong opposition towards amending our charter,” he added.