Photo courtesy: Ateneo School of Government
Filipinos view “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms” and “free and fair elections” as the two most essential elements in a democracy, a survey has found.
Prof. Philip Arnold Tuaño, dean of the Ateneo School of Government, said the survey conducted by the Philippine Observatory on Democracy revealed a conflict in relation to the perceived elements in a democracy and the perception of historical figures.
“A majority of urban Filipinos believe that Presidents Rodrigo Duterte and Ferdinand Marcos Sr., leaders associated with authoritarian practices, had a beneficial impact on Philippine democracy,” he said.
In the survey, the two former presidents topped the list as the personalities with the highest proportions of “nakabuti” (positive) responses, with Duterte receiving 62% and Marcos gaining 49%.
The survey also revealed that, while public perceptions of democracy remained firmly associated with freedom and liberty, they were starting to be attributed to negative concepts such as chaos (“kaguluhan”), indicating a growing ambivalence toward democracy in the country.
Prof. Robin Garcia, a faculty member at the Ateneo School of Government, said several data points from the POD help explain this phenomenon.
“It does suggest that the urgent issues that democracy needs to address are the delivery of social services and economic output. So based on that data, it’s really output legitimacy, it’s what you can get from democracy, it’s solving the material depravity of Filipinos that matters to them. They connect the solution to material depravity to democracy, so it’s output-driven,” he said.
Garcia also cited social media as a major factor contributing to democratic ambivalence, describing it as the “biggest source of information,” and noting that Filipinos may not see themselves susceptible to misinformation, according to the survey.
“There’s a socio-psychological term that maybe I’d like to throw in, it’s the idea of availability bias. Ibig sabihin, because we are boundedly rational, individuals tend to believe the information available to them right away. So that’s what the algorithm tells you, it puts you in a bubble,” he continued.
The study underscored the need to prioritize civic education and address information asymmetry. Miguel Karlo Abadines, executive director of Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan, said that in between the urban and rural areas, it’s all a matter of asking, “Are we getting the same information?”
“We need to go long-term. We have to see and understand that civic education needs to be continually propagated and continued in terms of school, but we have two questions we need to ask: What is the ‘what’ of civic education, the second is the ‘how,’” he said.
The survey respondents were composed of 842 adult Filipinos, aged 18 and above, across different cities in the Philippines, interviewed from Dec. 2 to Dec. 21, 2024. The poll had an average margin of error of ±5.2% at a 95% confidence level.
The Philippine Observatory on Democracy consortium consists of various Ateneo institutions, such as Ateneo de Naga, Ateneo de Manila, Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan de Oro, Ateneo de Davao, and Ateneo de Zamboanga.
Working alongside those academic institutions are civil society organizations, namely, Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan and the John Carroll Institute of Social Order. Regner Atutubo and Vergel Villarba