Kabataan solon pokes holes at survey saying 8 of 10 Pinoys favor mandatory ROTC
Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel (Kabataan Party-list)
Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel is challenging the veracity of the Pulse Asia survey results which indicated that a whopping 80 percent of Filipinos favored the return of mandatory Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) for college students. "Recently, Pulse Asia released a survey showing that [eight] out of 10 Filipinos agree to reviving mandatory ROTC for all college students," Manuel, a Makabayan bloc congressman, said in a statement Wednesday, April 12. "This is the second opinion survey on mandatory ROTC I've seen whose questions aren't carefully worded," he claimed. "If I were the participant, it seems to me that saying 'no' will make a respondent appear to be anti-discipline or unpatriotic. Who wouldn't say 'yes' to that?" said Manuel, who along with the other two Makabayan solons belonged to the House Minority bloc. The youth solon also questioned the choice of respondents for the poll. "Also, current and future college students don't comprise majority of respondents. If we need to scientifically measure the opinion of any group, it should be the primary stakeholders - students - who were previously deprived of sufficient representation in Senate proceedings," he said. Manuel went on to take a dig at those pushing for the revival of mandatory ROTC, which is a touchy subject to many. "Statistics should aid in policymaking rather than be another tool for disinformation to forward the interests of those in power. Surveys can be done better," he concluded.