A NEWLY RELEASED snapshot of the Social Weather Stations’ Third Quarter 2017 Social Weather Survey found that 54% of adult Filipinos agreed (31% strongly agree, 22% somewhat agree, correctly rounded), and 30% disagreed (12% somewhat disagree, 18% strongly disagree), with President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s proposal to Congress to extend martial law in the whole of Mindanao until Dec. 31 this year.

This gives a net agreement score (% agree minus % disagree) of +24, classified by SWS as moderately strong.

(SWS terminology for Net Agreement is as follows: +50 and above, “Extremely Strong”; +30 to +49, “Very Strong”; +10 to +29, “Moderately Strong”, +9 to –9, “Neutral”; –10 to –29, “Moderately Weak”; –30 to –49, “Very Weak”; –50 and below, “Extremely Weak.”)

Net agreement with Mr. Duterte’s decision to extend martial law was highest in Mindanao at a very strong +41 (64% agree, 23% disagree), followed by the Visayas at a moderately strong +22 (54% agree, 32% disagree), Balance Luzon at a moderately strong +18 (49% agree, 31% disagree), and Metro Manila at a moderately strong +16 (52% agree, 36% disagree).

Support for the martial-law extension in Mindanao was stronger among class ABC (extremely strong +51), compared to class D (moderately strong +26), and class E (neutral +4).

It was stronger among men (very strong +34) compared to women (moderately strong +13), and this support hardly varied across age groups.

The survey also found that 54% agreed (30% strongly agree, 23% somewhat agree, correctly rounded), and 28% disagreed (12% somewhat disagree, 17% strongly disagree, correctly rounded) with the Congress vote on July 22 to approve the extension of martial law in Mindanao until the end of this year.

This gives a net agreement score of moderately strong +25.

Support for was highest in Mindanao at a very strong +42 net agreement (64% agree, 22% disagree), followed by Balance Luzon at a moderately strong +22 (50% agree, 28% disagree), Metro Manila at a moderately strong +22 (55% agree, 33% disagree), and Visayas at a moderately strong +16 (49% agree, 34% disagree, correctly rounded).

It was higher in overall urban areas (very strong +30), compared to overall rural areas (moderately strong +21), and stronger among class ABC (very strong +49), compared to class D (moderately strong +28), and class E (neutral +6).

This support was also stronger among men (very strong +35), compared to women (moderately strong +16). It hardly varied across age groups, but was stronger among those with more years of formal schooling.

The noncommissioned survey, posted on the SWS website on Friday, Nov. 10, was conducted Sept. 23-27, using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults nationwide, 600 in Balance Luzon and 300 each in Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao (with sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±6% each for the other areas).

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