ONE of the proponents of Constitutional amendments welcomed the growing interest of Filipinos in changing the 1987 Constitution.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, said the new survey results released by Pulse Asia on Tuesday showed that 41 percent of Filipinos are supportive of amending the 1987 Constitution .

Based on the Pulse Asia survey conducted from March 15-19, 2023, 41 percent of Filipino adults agree that the 1987 Constitution should be amended as compared to 31 percent during the September 2022 survey.

The survey also showed that those who are against amending the 1987 Constitution have decreased from 56 percent last September to 45 percent during the March 2023 survey.

“We are getting there. This shows that more and more Filipinos are now realizing the need to amend the Constitution to help the country move forward and to attract more investments,” Rodriguez said.

The survey also showed that 34 percent of Filipino adults also agree with the formation of a constitutional convention to amend our Constitution while only 30 percent are opposed to the constitutional convention mode.

The survey added that 47 percent of Filipino adults were aware that there are proposals to amend the 1987 Constitution.

Rodriguez believes that this number can still be improved thru information campaigns conducted by the House of Representatives in most provinces and cities in the Philippines.

He will propose holding of various constitutional caravans all over the country to further increase awareness and inform the people of the benefits of amending the restrictive economic provisions of the constitution.

However, the survey highlighted that those against (45 percent) the Constitutional amendments are still higher than those in favor (41 percent) of it.

The number of those opposed reached 51 percent in Mindanao, 40 percent in Visayas and 39 percent in Balance Luzon.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), those against turned higher with 59 percent compared to September 2022 survey of 54 percent.

At the same time, the number of Filipinos with little to no knowledge of the 1987 Constitution went up to 79 percent from 73 percent in September 2022.