Sunday, May 04, 2008 Bennett: Rallies do not reflect people's sentiments By Nonnette Bennett Stories
RALLIES are not the reliable gauges to measure the sentiments of various sectors in this cool city. This was expressed by 72 percent of the people surveyed with 58 percent of them belonging to the Roman Catholic Church.
Women, artists, employed, vendors, businessmen, and self-employed sectors who were randomly surveyed here said they did not care to join rallies to express their want for change in the government.
Among the women, six out of 12 or 50 percent said they did not care to join rallies, 30 percent said they would join the rallies while the remaining 20 percent had no comment. Of those interviewed, 42 percent were Roman Catholics. There were seven who said they were affected by the ZTE controversy and other national issues, three who said they did not feel affected by Manila issues because it was far away, and the other two said whatever was the decision of the majority was going to be their decision. These women said there were other more important things to do.
Of the 32 sidewalk vendors surveyed, 75 percent said they did not care to join rallies and would rather earn money. "Hanapbuhay bago rally, walang nabibigay ang rally," said one woman vendor at Burnham Park in Tagalog, saying it was more important to earn money because rallies did not amount to anything. There were 66 percent of those surveyed who said they wanted to have government leaders changed, while 31 percent said it was useless to change leaders at this time and to let them finish their terms. The group was divided on the issue of being affected by the Manila controversies, saying they were far away from it all.
There were 18 male vendors interviewed and 14 females, with 56 percent of them Roman Catholics.
The employed and self-employed had a 79 percent response to not caring to join rallies and 60 percent who said they were not affected by the issues raised in Manila. There were 12 of the 24 who said they did not want a change in the leaders. Among the employed, there were 17 males and four females, while the self-employed were all males. Of those employed there were 81 percent who did not want to join rallies, while among the self-employed it was 67 percent. Among the 24, there were 14 Roman Catholics.
The business sector showed a 71 percent dislike for joining rallies and had the same percentage seeking no change in government leadership. Some said it was a futile exercise to change the leaders since they would be replaced by similarly corrupt leaders. However, 57 percent said they were affected by the issues in Manila because there was a rise in prices of the majority of materials they needed. They blamed the inefficient government who were preoccupied with unnecessary senate hearings instead of buckling down to solve economic issues. There were five out of seven who were Roman Catholics.
The artists were divided on the issue. While one did not care to join rallies, the other said it was necessary. However, both agreed there was a need to change government leadership. They were both Roman Catholics.
Among those interviewed, there were 44 Roman Catholics who represented 58 percent of the sectors surveyed, the others represented the Moslems, Jehovah's Witness, Iglesia ni Cristo, and other Christian religions. There were 45 males interviewed and 31 females. There were 16 between the ages of 20 to 30, 21 aged 31 to 40, 21 aged between 41 to 50, and 17 who were older than 51.
There were 50 percent who felt they were adversely affected by National Government controversies, 46 percent who felt unaffected, and four percent who had no comments. There were 41 respondents who wanted a change in government leadership representing 54 percent of the respondents, while 42 percent said the leaders should finish their terms.
Some said government was the same "banana" no matter who was sitting as leader.
