The latest reported public survey from the Social Weather Stations (SWS) is a little frightening when you think about it. Not for the answers, but for the basic question.
The survey was conducted in June, questioning 1,200 adults around the country. The headline of the press and media release from the company sums it up—“Second Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey Special Report: 61 percent of Pinoys believe in the US
defense commitment.”
The report reads: “In advance of the 67th year of the Mutual Defense Treaty, the Second Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey found that 61 percent of adult Filipinos believe the US will defend the Philippines in case of an invasion by another country.”
Interestingly, less than half—47 percent—were aware of the Philippines-US Mutual Defense Treaty before the survey. That in itself is revealing considering the MDT has been in force for two generations and has been in the public discussion many times before, not least of which was when the Philippines kicked out the US military bases in 1991.
Further, the “left” seems to talk a lot about the MDT and gives the impression that ordinary Filipinos are greatly concerned about a US military presence. That may be true to a certain extent, but obviously the average Filipino is not very knowledgeable about the background.
The primary question was: “How much do you believe or not believe that the United States will defend the Philippines in case we are invaded by another country?”
This might be an important and valid question in South Korea that has been in a state of war with North Korea for 60 years. An average Ukrainian might be asked the question about support from the Nato countries concerning a Russian invasion. Certainly, in Israel there is a thought about what the US and Europe would do if Iran suddenly decided to invade.
However, it is hard to think of another country that is facing an imminent or even remote threat of invasion. Therefore, why would this survey be taken? Perhaps it shows how intellectually and psychologically connected and dependant of the US the Filipino is—or is thought to be by some people. This seems to be some sort of extreme colonial mentality.
We would also assume that SWS and the respondents were thinking about China and not Australia as the potential invader. This is because, according to the survey, belief in the US defense commitment is stronger among those aware of the PHL-China dispute in the West Philippine Sea.
As expected, the higher the education of the respondent, the greater is her knowledge of the MDT. While the least educated—“none/some elem”—has the lowest belief that the US would rush to protect the Philippines. Elementary graduates and above are almost identical in “not believing” the US commitment to defend our nation.
However, the deciding factor of strong belief that the US will come to our defense is determined by extent of a person’s knowledge of the PHL-China dispute in the West Philippine Sea.
We do not dispute the results of the survey or the honesty of the responses. However, there may be a hidden factor that clouds the results. The dispute is important, and China has taken advantage of the Philippines. But it is also valid to say that some of the discussion has bordered on fear mongering. Perhaps the “fear mongering” was successful to move public opinion, and that is not good.