Take it from a senior Commission on Elections executive — pre-election surveys are bad since they may sway unnecessarily the vote of the electorate.
"More of the minus (effect of surveys), paano naman yung nahuhuli na magaling naman, iignore na lang sila (what if those who are behind in surveys are actually good, they will still be ignored because of that)," Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento told reporters in an interview Thursday.
Sarmiento issued the statement after presidential candidate Richard Gordon sued Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Stations (SWS) for damages over the pollsters’ alleged bias in conducting pre-election surveys.
Sarmiento, however, made it clear that he was only speaking for himself and not on behalf of the Comelec.
In speaking out his mind about pre-election surveys, Sarmiento noted that although these opinion polls allow candidates to be become more popular, they also put the aspirants' platforms in the background. "That's the danger of trending," he said.
Still, Sarmiento pointed out that the Supreme Court (SC) had already ruled on the problem of surveys, leaving them no choice but to follow it. "The SC has sustained the validity of these institutions conducting surveys," he said.
Republic Act 9006 defines election surveys as "the measurement of opinions and perceptions of the voters as regards a candidate’s popularity, qualifications, platforms or a matter of public discussion in relation to the election, including voters’ preference for candidates or publicly discussed issues during the campaign period."
It said that the survey, together with the raw data, should be made available for inspection, copying and verification by the Comelec, a registered political party, a candidate, or a citizens' arm.
It added that surveys affecting national candidates shall not be published 15 days before an election and surveys affecting local candidates shall not be published seven days before an election.
The high court, however, nullified the provision barring the release of surveys before the polls in a 2001 case filed by SWS.
For the 2010 polls, Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino has emerged as front runner in pre-election surveys. — GMANews.TV
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