BANAUE, Ifugao—Fifty-four percent of Cordillerans are now aware of the renewed pursuit for regional autonomy being spearheaded by the Regional Development Council.
Meanwhile, 46 percent of them remain unaware of it, according to the results of the latest pulse survey geared towards getting the pulse of the people on the clamor for self-governance.
Milagros A. Rimando, regional director of the Cordillera office of the National Economic and Development Authority and RDC-CAR vice chairperson, said the latest pulse survey had a total respondents of 5,558 with 32.9 percent of them coming from rural areas near town centers, 30.8 percent coming from urban and poblacion centers, 18.9 percent coming from rural far-flung areas and 17.5 percent coming from highly urbanized areas.
Based on the 2014 survey recently released by the agency, the number of people who are now aware of the autonomy issue grew by 13 percent from the 41 percent generated during the 2013 similar survey. The yes votes in the 2014 survey, however, dropped to 26 percent from the 28 percent yes votes in 2013.
Fifty-nine percent of the respondents in urban and poblacion centers claimed they we aware of the renewed pursuit for regional autonomy while 41 percent of them claimed there were not aware of such efforts. In rural areas near town centers, 54 percent were aware while 46 percent were not aware of the clamor for regional autonomy.
In highly urbanized areas, there was a 50-50 split on those who were and were not aware of the autonomy campaign while in the rural far-flung areas, 53 percent were not aware of the autonomy campaign while only 47 percent claimed they knew about the autonomy movement.
On the level of awareness of Cordillerans on autonomy, 37 percent of the respondents in Abra claimed that they were aware while a whopping 67 percent said they were not aware of the said issue. 49 percent of Apayaos confirmed their awareness to autonomy efforts while 51 percent claimed they were not. In Baguio City, there was a 50-50 split on those who are aware and were not aware of autonomy.
Mountain Province recorded the highest awareness level on autonomy with 67 percent admitting that they were aware of the issue while only 37 percent said they were not and the same was followed by Benguet and Kalinga with 61 indicating their awareness percent while 39 percent of them claimed they were not aware. In Ifugao, 53 percent were aware of autonomy while 47 percent were not.
When asked on the overall need for autonomy in the Cordillera, 61 percent of the respondents still do not know their answer, 24 percent favored the need for autonomy in the region while only 15 percent answered in the negative.
When asked if they will support the renewed move for autonomy, 57 percent of the respondents answered they still do not know, 25 percent answered in the affirmative while 18 percent answered in the negative.
If the plebiscite will be held tomorrow, 55 percent said they do not know, 26 percent will vote for yes while 19 will vote for no.
Rimando claimed the data was culled from the 2014 pulse survey and that the RDC-CAR was able to commission a private company that will undertake the necessary pulse survey with the results to be issued next year.