The "poorly crafted" questions indicated in the recent Pulse Asia survey have "created confusion" to the public, resulting in a high number of people opposing the amendment of the 1987 Constitution, a House leader said Monday.
Iloilo Rep. Jannette Garin, one of the staunch proponents of charter change, said she spotted "three big problems" in the poll questionnaire, including the inclusion of irrelevant questions, which were not being considered by Congress.
"First of all, there are questions not really being debated in Congress to date… If you are the respondent, then naturally, you will react. But the bigger problem is that these are not being talked about in the Cha-cha of this administration," the House deputy majority leader said in a press conference.
Garin is referring to the questions related to no election, term extension for national and local elective officials, changing the presidential system to a parliamentary system of government, shifting from a bicameral to a unicameral legislature, and allowing foreigners to exploit the country's natural resources, among others.
"These questions are related to the Cha-cha discussed during the previous administration," she claimed.
"Let us not influence the decision of our people by poorly crafted questionnaires." she added.
Pulse Asia's latest survey, conducted earlier this month but released on Holy Week, showed that opponents of Cha-cha increased to 88 percent from 45 percent in March last year.
The 88 percent comprised people who said that the 37-year-old Constitution may be amended at some other time (14 percent), and people who objected to the constitutional change now nor any other time (74 percent).
Opponents of Cha-cha were highest in Mindanao (91 percent from 51 percent), followed by those in balance Luzon (89 percent from 39 percent), the Visayas (85 percent from 40 percent), and Metro Manila (81 percent from 59 percent).
Supporters of Cha-cha also drastically declined from 41 percent in March 2023 to eight percent in the latest survey.
Garin attributed the results to how Pulse Asia crafted the questions, which she claimed could be likened to a "chop suey."
"If you look at the questions in the survey, it seems that the proposals during the Duterte administration and the current admin have been mixed like a chopsuey," Garin lamented.
The lawmaker also took issue with how the survey was done at a time when Congress had just finished approving its economic Cha-cha, or the Resolution of Both Houses 7.
RBH 7, which is almost a replica of the Senate's RBH 6 with the only distinction being the manner of voting, hurdled the third and final reading with 289-7-2 votes during Congress' last session day on 20 March before it goes into a month-long Holy Week recess.
Both resolutions aim to relax the restrictions on foreign ownership in public utilities, educational facilities, and the advertising industry, covered under Articles 12, 14, and 16 of the Constitution, respectively, said to be hampering the Philippines' economic potential.
Garin said should the longstanding efforts of Congress succeed, the Philippines could easily entice foreign investments, which Cha-cha proponents believe will generate thousands of employment opportunities for Filipinos.