Today, I stumbled over a blog with an article about the results of February 2010 pre-election survey for the Philippine presidentiables (2010 candidate for Philippine president). It was mentioned that the basic information was from the results of the survey conducted by the social weather station (sws) in the Philippines. Since I cannot vote as I live here in Europe (though I could have registered but I was not aware then), I am indifferent to the results of that survey. I have to see the program of each candidate todecide which one to vote. However, I have to admit that I became curious of sws so I went entering the website. There were a lot to learn there, especially that this sws is an authority when it comes to survey in the Philippines. I still have to see the ideas of the COMELEC (commission on Elections) though.

One of the surveys that caught my interest is the “Planned Activities of Registered Voters”. Quoting sws:

The special SWS Pre-Election Survey conducted from February 24-28, 2010 found that registered voters have varied planned activities for the May 2010 elections: 26% plan to watch the counting of votes, 23% attend political rallies of candidates and 20% serve in organizations that will help in having an orderly and clean election.

Other planned activities for the May 2010 elections are: be a watcher for a political candidate (15%), put up posters for politicians (11%), actively campaign for a political candidate (9%), and be a member of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) (3%).

In three pre-election surveys of 2007, to watch vote-counting and to attend political rallies were also the top planned activities for the May 2007 national elections.”

I left the Philippines when I was 22 and that was 3 years ago. I was not that mature enough to understand a lot of things about politics and I was not also exposed to the outside world and external politics… unlike now.

Looking at the results of that survey about planned activities, it seems that the voters are quite apathetic. I mean, it was not mentioned (or I have not read) that the choice in the poll/survey is mutually exclusive (if you choose one option you cannot choose another) but the percentages of participation is quite low. I mean, I can also misunderstand this survey but if only 26% of the voters wish to watch the counting of votes, does it mean that the rest are not curious enough what have become of their respective votes? Anyway, again, the sws article did not elaborate on a lot of things. The way the article is presented is very broad and confusing.

Readers like me, who are not into the world of surveys, will surely be confused. Sws put on a lot of numbers or percentages and graphical presentations and their variables but it did not explain what those variables mean. In this modern world, if you tell “watch the counting of votes”, it can also mean, (1) watch literally on voting centers, (2) watch the counting on television, (3) watch the counting through live streaming online and a lot of other ways. So which one is the meaning of that variable “watch the counting of votes”?

Information that is clear is not information at all. As I mentioned, sws is supposed to be an authority onpolls but it doesn’t seem to be in this very particular case I am presenting. If an information (it is merely a raw data in fact) is very broad and vague, it is easier for the presentor of that information (sws in this case) to confuse the public and/or manipulate them if the presentor wishes.

Please, sws personnel, make your articles/publications a bit clearer. We would like to understand things and not to be more confused. I appreciate reading in your “Survey background” how you did the survey and what is your sample size (so small for the whole population) but please, I am still asking the same thing: please elaborate/simplify/detail your variables to the reading public. Thank you.

If you have seen this post here, I can say that this post now is quite relevant. You may have notice that most of the articles in this blog are kind of negative but that does not mean that my intentions are negative. I would like my fello Filipinos to wake up in their deep slumber. Only through acceptance of our shortcomings we will be able to irradicate that shortcoming(s), right? It's just like cancer, how can you cure it if you don't even acknowledge its existence?

Living here in Europe for almost three years, I have meet some people around. From these people, I learn a lot of stuff,and I also learn from fellow Filipinos or half-Filipinos I meet in various places. I hear their ideas,opinions and experiences and from their, I compare what is it in the Philippinesan/or I hear their opinions about Philippines or Filipinos.

Last December, I was able to speak with a newly-wed couple friends who just had their honeymoon in a cruise. Theirexperiences was that there are a lot of Filipinos on board the cruise ship. Although this couple are both Italians, they became awareof stuff considering they have a Filipino friend: I! After their cruise, they can only appreciate theFilipino service thay received:

Following are their comments that made my heart really skip with excitement andmade me proud to be one Filipino:

1. Why are you Filipinos so educated? No screaming, no nervousness towards customers/clients, etc?

2. You are all respectful and soft-spoken;

3. The cruise ship'sFilipino crews never missed a "Buon giorno"(good morning) and "Grazie" (thanks) whenever the situation is correct;

4. The service they give is very good.

Whenever I hear things like these, it makes me happy. I am very contented. This means a big honor to the country/nation and to the Filipino nation. Lovely reaction/feedback, right?

I need not raise my hand and say "I'm Filipino too!" in this ocassion. The fact that I know that my fellow Filipinos are in good situation, and receive good feedbacks such as this story in this article, is very fulfilling.

How I wish I hear more stories like these and more positive posts in blog will be published here rather than most of the rants of the bad stuff. Time to improve, time to be known for the good side (if not for the best) . Go Filipinos! Be the pride of the world!