BY RESTORING DEMOCRACY, AND PROTECTing it against serious authoritarian threats and tendencies, during and after her term of office, Corazon Aquino restored, and then maintained, the Filipinos? freedom of expression. In jurisprudence, this freedom is a preferred right, legally prior to other rights.

This is not only the freedom to speak to the masses through the media, but also the equally important freedom of the masses to speak out and be listened to. Effective mass communication has two sides?the capability to speak, and the capability to listen.

Scientific opinion polling is the listening side of mass communication. It assumes universal freedom of expression. It gives every citizen, and not just a convenient ?man on the street,? an equal chance of selection as a respondent. SWS alone has interviewed hundreds of thousands, since 1986.

In modern democracies, open or published opinion polling is the means of providing society with reliable information of the collective will on matters not put to elections or referenda. In autocracies, when opinion polls are done at all, they are secret.

In a free society, people respond to a poll without fear of retribution, even if they lack political influence or hold minority views. But where there is a secret police, they will be truthful only to close relatives and friends; to strangers like survey interviewers they usually say that all is well.

Survey respondents have the right to expect that their answers will be truthfully rendered and reported to the public. We find that, the lower their social class, the more pleased they are at their luck of being chosen, and having the opportunity to speak out. We in the opinion research profession cannot betray that trust.

In a democratic society, opinion polls are not subject to government restrictions. (For instance, the Marcos administration required pre-approval of all government surveys with a sample size of 500 or more.) They must be free to design survey questions, analyze data, draw conclusions, and publish findings.

We Filipinos have legal freedom to do and report opinion polls at any time. The Supreme Court ruled, in 2000 and 2001 respectively, that exit polling and pre-election polling are covered by the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression. (The 2001 case reached the court because of anti-opinion poll legislation. What would politicians have to fear from opinion polls, if polls were unreliable?)

The best guarantee that pollsters do real surveys and report them truthfully is the force of competition?the same force that makes mass media report truthfully what their reporters gather. (Who still remembers Facts Base, the pollster that constantly put Jose de Venecia ahead of Joseph Estrada in the 1998 race for president? It vanished right afterwards.) The more the competition in polling, the more the truth of public opinion will come out.

Mass democratic discourse is not dictated by the rich. Media companies depend on advertisers, who pay for the service of sending specific messages to a mass audience. Of course, the bigger the ads, the more the sponsors pay; but they specify only their ads (subject to rules of ethical advertising), and not the news or editorials.

On the listening side of mass discourse, an institute like SWS depends on sponsors who see value in learning public views about certain issues. The more questions asked, the more the cost; but sponsors specify only their question items (subject to rules of ethical surveying), not the items used by SWS for its public reports.

Polls don?t make politicians popular or unpopular. They just report what the people say about politicians. The ever-modest Cory Aquino was our least survey-conscious president. When I told her, on a rare occasion, of the SWS finding that a coup attempt only made the people rally behind her, she simply said, ?Really? I thought they didn?t like me anymore.?

Open opinion polling becomes viable when democracy prevails. Since 1986, Filipinos have been able to take for granted that their voices will be expressed in open opinion polls. This would not have happened, were it not for Corazon Aquino. Maraming salamat, President Cory.

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SWS letter to Sen. Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III, Aug. 3, 2009:

Dear Senator Aquino,

This is to express to you and your family the grief and condolences of the board of directors, fellows, and staff members of Social Weather Stations on the passing of your mother, our beloved President, Ms Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.

Cory Aquino was the Philippines? most important president of the postwar period, for having restored our democracy. The Filipino people expressed their appreciation amply by making her our most popular president, based on public satisfaction with her performance while in office, and public trust in her afterwards.

Without freedom of expression, it would have been impossible for open opinion polling to grow and mature. Among Cory Aquino?s many great legacies to the nation, what is most significant for SWS is the political environment favorable for nurturing the means for scientific articulation of the people?s collective will.

SWS will forever honor the memory of Cory Aquino by remaining committed to our common democratic ideals, consistently applying best practices in its opinion research, and courageously reporting the truth.

Yours very sincerely,

Mahar Mangahas, Linda Luz B. Guerrero, Jasmin F. Acuña, Eduardo L. Roberto, Felipe M. Medalla, Antonio G. M. La Viña, Jorge V. Tigno (SWS Board of Directors)

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Contact SWS: www.sws.org.ph or mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph.