Website resurgent.ph, twisting the result of a recent Pulse Asia survey, posted May 3 a false report claiming more Filipinos are open to federalism.
Results of a March 2018 nationwide Pulse Asia survey on charter change show that 66 percent of Filipinos are not in favor of replacing the current unitary system of government with a federal system.
Specifically, 36 percent are against changing the system of government now or in any other time while 30 percent are opposed to changing the system now but may be open to change some time in the future.
Only 27 percent of Filipinos are currently in favor of a shift to a federal system.
“The prevailing sentiment among Filipinos is one of opposition to replacing the present unitary system of government with a federal one,” noted Pulse Asia.
The resurgent.ph post, bearing the headline “PULSE ASIA SURVEY: MORE ARE OPEN TO FEDERALISM” and a table from the Pulse Asia survey, manipulated the numbers by adding the 27 percent in favor of a shift to the 30 percent who are opposed but may be open to change some time in the future.
It then falsely concluded that “contrary to media reports saying otherwise, majority of Filipinos are actually in favor of changing the present system of government to a federal system” and that the Pulse Asia survey “showed that 57 percent of Filipinos are open to replacing the present unitary system of government with a federal one.”
Resurgent.ph, which published the false story a day after Pulse Asia released the results, claims in its website to be a Davao-based online magazine that “seeks to broaden the national socio-economic and political narrative.”
The false story it posted could have reached more than 14.9 million people, its biggest traffic generators on social media being pro-Duterte Facebook bigwigs Thinking Pinoy, For the Motherland – Sass Rogando Sasot and Mocha Uson Blog.
Source:
Pulse Asia, http://www.pulseasia.ph/march-2018-nationwide-survey-on-charter-change/, May 2, 2018
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
