Details

The main part of the event was the presentation from Dr. Mahar Mangahas, President of the SWS. He discussed the different surveys and their subsequent results for the year 2013. In his speech, he talked about the SWS' surveys on democracy, the elections, the public perception of present and past Philippine administrations, political leaders and organizations, the private sector, etc. Notably, the SWS has included newer surveys on the public's perception of the Administration's provision of basic education, response to Typhoon Haiyan, anti-corruption efforts, and the Priority Development Assistance Fund. Copies of the presentation of Dr. Mangahas can be found in http://www.sws.org.ph/pr20140128_2014%20SWS%20Survey%20Review_FINAL%20Jan28.pdf.

Dr. Edna Estifania Co, Professor at the University of the Philippines' National College of Public Administration and Governance responded to the presentation of Dr. Mangahas. Besides tackling many aspects within Dr. Mangahas' presentation, one of the more salient points put forth by Dr. Co was that these are surveys based on perception. While she acknowledges that surveys serve a purpose, it is just one view---perception must also be put against actual performance indicators.

After the open forum, Dr. Peter Köppinger, Country Representative of KAS Philippines, closed the forum with three important points. (1) More substantial survey results were received whenever questions were closely related to reality. For example, the question "Are you hungry?" can produce greater meaning in the results rather than "How do you rate democracy?". (2) There must be a contrast between reality and people's ratings on general issues. Case in point, why do so many Filipinos rate themselves as poor, but at the same time are satisfied with the performance of the current Administration? (3) It is important to ask quality survey questions, such as, "Do you believe you can influence political decisions?" or "Do you hold officials accountable between elections?" Overall, Dr. Köppinger cautions about the possible danger of surveys, in that an administration may be unable to address the core issues when the general public indicate that they are satisfied with their performance.