Bayan Patrollers, online participants give P. Noy high ratings

MANILA, Philippines -- Just like in the Harapan Debates in the run-up to the 2010 elections, ABS-CBN again used hi-tech gadgets to help get the pulse of the people. But this time, it was not just to decipher if a candidate was more credible than another, but whether President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III's promises during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) were believable or not.

And so for the first time in SONA history, instead of just being listeners, some audience members had the chance to judge the issues on the spot. Thanks to the Wireless Audience Response System (WARS) used by ABS-CBN, that interactivity was instant.

Forty Bayan Patrollers each from Metro Manila, Naga, Cebu, and Cagayan de Oro were chosen for the WARS. The participants, chosen to be the "Boses Ng Bayan" (Voice of the People), were from various walks of life – they were students, educators, office workers, government employees, and private businessmen.

Aside from the usage of WARS, a parallel poll was done online through the TV Patrol's website, http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/tvpatrollive. Participants in the chat were given the chance to vote on four questions similar to those asked from the participants in the WARS-aided session.

The 160 WARS volunteers were given questions while the SONA was on-going, and these questions were flashed on the screen. After a few seconds, the answers were up on screen, giving the rest of the audience what the sample audience thought about a given issue.

High credibility

The first question was about alleged anomalies in the budget: Did they believe that President Aquino's administration could stop the "quota-quota" and "tong-pats" system?

The results? Majority - 81.6% - of the WARS respondents said they believed Aquino, while 18.4% said they did not believe his administration could do it. On the online polls, 85% believed him, while 15% said they did not.

On the question of whether or not the President was to be believed on the issue of his administration not overspending, as well as doing away with anomalous projects, 84.7% of WARS respondents said they believed Aquino, while 15.3% said they did not. The online respondents, meanwhile, had 80% believers while 20% did not think it could happen.

The President also vowed to probe the major anomalies that the last administration has been accused of. On this issue, 79.6% of WARS respondents agreed while 20.4% disagreed. On the online poll, 75% believed it would happen while 25% did not.

President Aquino also reminded all that job creation was still a top priority for his administration, and that he would achieve this with proper running and improvements of certain key industries and by making it easier for all businesses to set up and operate by cutting red tape.

On this issue, a whopping 90.8% believed this could be achieved while only 9.2% of the WARS respondents thought it was not possible. As for the online polls, 85% felt it would happen while 15% felt it would not.

ABS-CBN reminded its viewers that the use of WARS and the online polls are only a few among several ways of gauging the public's responses to the President, and that these are being used also to spark more interaction and action among citizens.