OPPOSITION TO CHA-CHA GROWING

April 11, 2006

76% OF FILIPINOS NOT IN FAVOR OF CHARTER CHANGE
OPPOSITION TO CHA-CHA GROWING SINCE 2004

Majority of Filipinos do not favor the current proposal to amend the 1987 Constitution, according to the latest IBON nationwide survey conducted on March 16-25. And based on the quarterly surveys made since 2004, the number of Filipinos opposed to Charter change (Cha-cha) has been increasing.

According to the IBON March 2006 Survey, 76% of the respondents who were aware of the Cha-cha proposal are not in favor of current moves to amend the constitution. Around 16% are in favor of Cha-cha, 6% said they don't know, while 2% has no answer.

Of the 1,416 respondents, 68% said they know of the administration's proposal to change the Charter, while almost 30% said they were not aware of it.

The trend of people's opposition to Cha-cha has been growing, according to past IBON surveys. In March 2004, 47% of Filipinos said they were against Cha-cha, compared to 17% who were in favor of it. In March 2005, almost 51% were against it, while 24% said they were in favor of amending the Charter.

In the IBON survey last January, 65% were opposed to Cha-cha compared to 26.5% who were in favor of it.

The March 2006 survey was conducted nationwide among 1,416 respondents and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.