Democracy over authoritarianism

September 23, 1972 (a Saturday) deserves remembering as the actual day when Ferdinand Marcos openly demolished our democratic system and began his authoritarian rule in the Philippines.   It was not on Sept. 21, which he designated a special holiday only because 21 was one of his lucky numbers.

On Sept. 21 and 22, the mass media had not yet been shut down; oppositionists had not yet been rounded up.  For Filipinos to mark Sept. 21 merely because it was chosen by Marcos is as though Americans should mark the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Twin Towers on dates chosen by Imperial Japan and al-Qaida.  Thus I personally choose Sept. 23, not Sept. 21, as the day to remember.

Preference for democracy. Filipinos have always strongly preferred democracy to authoritarianism, in 20 SWS national surveys on this matter since 2002.  The latest one, in March 2013, found that, out of every five Filipinos, three always prefer democracy, while one prefers authoritarianism “in some circumstances,” and another one is indifferent.  Those for democracy were 59 percent; those for authoritarianism were 21 percent.

The March 2013 dominance of democrats over authoritarians is strong in all demographic segments.  In the survey’s geographical study areas, the percentage scores of democrats versus authoritarians are 58-24 in the National Capital Region, 63-18 in the Balance of Luzon, 55-20 in the Visayas, and 54-26 in Mindanao. The balances from 100 are the indifferent ones.

Democrats highly outnumber authoritarians in both urban (58-21) and rural (62-21) areas.  They dominate in all socioeconomic classes, but most of all in the ABC or middle-to-upper classes (79-16).  They dominate at all levels of schooling, but most of all among college graduates (67-11).  This points to inclusive economic growth and better education as favorable to the maintenance of democracy.

Most interesting of all is the dominance of democrats in all age groups, including the youngest voters.  It’s a mistake to think that authoritarianism might attract younger Filipinos who didn’t get to experience martial law personally.  In March 2013 the percentage scores of democrats versus authoritarians are 55-25 in age group 18-24, 56-25 in age group 25-34, 57-23 in age group 35-44, 64-16 in age group 45-54, and 60-17 in age group 55 and up.  This shows that the dominance of democrats among younger people is only slightly below average.

Steady preference over time. Looking at the entire series of 20 surveys, one will see that the 59 percent of March 2013 is the second-largest preference for democracy.  It is next to the record-high 64 percent that happened twice, in March 2002 and December 2005.  Preference for democracy has always been a majority, except for September 2006 and June 2008, when it was a 49-percent plurality.

Over time, those who prefer authoritarianism “in some circumstances” have ranged from 15 percent (March 2007) to 27 percent (September 2010).   Authoritarians have always been much fewer than democrats.  Those indifferent between democracy and authoritarianism have ranged from 16 to 28 percent.

Democracy is preferred despite its ups and downs. The preference for democracy is strong even when not too many people are satisfied with how it is working.  Satisfaction with how democracy works is a separate item that SWS has surveyed 54 times from 1991 to the present, and has fluctuated between 28 percent (November 2003) and 74 percent (March 2013) Satisfaction with how democracy works tends to peak right after what the people see as a successful election—it was at 70 percent after Fidel Ramos won the presidency in 1992, at 70 percent again after Joseph Estrada won in 1998, at 69 percent after Noynoy Aquino won in 2010.

At the low point of 28 percent satisfaction in November 2003, the score for democracy over authoritarianism was nevertheless a strong 58-20.  After Gloria Arroyo won the election of 2004, only a mediocre 44 percent were satisfied with the working of democracy, and yet the score for democracy over authoritarianism was a strong 52-25.  After the Arroyo coalition lost the senatorial elections of 2007, satisfaction with the working of democracy rose noticeably to 54 percent, and the preference for democracy stayed roughly unchanged at 53-19.

The lesson here is that democracy and authoritarianism are like two alternative means of transportation, the former somewhat like a car, and the latter somewhat like a calesa.  Filipinos always prefer a car to a calesa, even when the car isn’t working well.  When that happens, they don’t want to substitute the calesa for the car; what they want is for the car to be repaired.

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The SWS surveys ask respondents which of the following is closest to their opinion: (a) “Democracy is always preferable to any other kind of government” (“Ang demokrasya ay palaging mas kanais-nais kaysa sa ibang klase ng pamahalaan”); (b) “Under some circumstances, an authoritarian government is preferable to a democratic one” (“Sa ilang mga situwasyon, ang pamahalaan ng diktaturya ay mas kanais-nais kaysa sa isang demokratiko”);  and (c) “For people like me, it does not matter whether we have a democratic or nondemocratic regime” (“Para sa mga taong katulad ko, walang kabuluhan sa akin kung ang ating pamahalaan ay demokratiko o hindi demokratiko”). See “First Quarter 2013 Social Weather Survey: Satisfaction with how democracy works at record-high 74%,” SWS Media Release, 7/15/2013.

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