MANILA, 5 November 2005 — Despite their lack of knowledge of Islam, about two-thirds of Filipinos have a favorable opinion of Muslims and their religion, according to the latest survey of private polling firm Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The SWS finding contrasts sharply with that of a United Nations-sponsored survey conducted by Pulse Asia, which found that “anti-Muslim biases” persist in this predominantly Christian nation and contribute to the 35-year-old conflict in Mindanao.
The SWS survey, conducted from Aug. 26 to Sept. 5, said opinions of Filipinos about Islam and Muslims had grown more favorable.
According to the latest SWS poll, 63% of respondents had a favorable view of Islam, an increase from 52% in August 2004. The increase was evident across all areas and economic classes.
The survey found that 66% of Filipinos believed Islam respects the beliefs of non-Muslims, a 4-percentage point increase from the survey taken in June 2003.
The survey also said about two-thirds of Filipinos (67 percent) considered Islam a religion of peace and not of violence. In the SWS survey of November 2002, only 44% of respondents held such a view.
The latest survey noted an increase in the favorable view toward Islam in all areas and economic classes.
The new trust in Muslims has also become positive in the latest SWS survey.
Forty-four percent of respondents agreed that Muslims were as trustworthy as any other Filipinos, while 26% disagreed.
This positive net trust rating of 19 toward Muslims represented a significant improvement from the negative rating of 12 in the SWS survey in November 2001, in which 29 percent agreed with the survey statement compared to 40 percent who disagreed.
A positive net agreement was recorded in all areas, except in the Visayas.
In the new survey, 22 percent of respondents said they had sufficient knowledge of Islam compared to 78% who said they had little or no knowledge about the religion.
Knowledge of the teachings and beliefs of Islam was highest in Mindanao.
The Pulse Asia survey commissioned by the United Nations, on the other hand, showed that majority — or 55 percent — of Filipinos “think Muslims are more prone to run amok (or juramentado).”
According to the same survey conducted nationwide in March this year, 47 percent “think Muslims are terrorists or extremists” while 44 percent believe Muslims “harbor hatred toward non-Muslims.”
The Pulse Asia survey formed part of the 2005 Philippine Human Development Report that was sponsored by the UN Development Program and the New Zealand Agency for International Development.
The 150-page report devoted an entire chapter on anti-Muslim biases in Philippine society because “an alarming picture of apparent discrimination against Muslims emerged” in the course of the research.
In general, 33-39 percent of Filipinos across the country showed “latent anti-Muslim bias” in various ways, according to the study.
The latest SWS survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao (sampling error margins of plus or minus 3 percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus 6 percentage points for area percentages).
Not commissioned
The SWS survey on Filipinos’ attitudes toward Muslims and Islam was not commissioned but was conducted on the organization’s own initiative.
The quarterly SWS surveys are supported by subscribers, who have no proprietary rights over the data.
The Fourth Quarter 2005 SWS survey will be fielded sometime in November.
Only 1,185 respondents were covered by the Pulse Asia survey. But the deviation from the standard sampling was not expected to have a significant bearing on the margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
