Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro noted that while leaders of the majority bloc have taken turns in assailing the credibility of the Pulse Asia’s survey, they were quick to promote a Chacha survey conducted by little-known survey firm, Tangere.

“Similar scrutiny should be applied to the firm Tangere, which proponents of Cha-cha rely upon. It is essential to have transparency in terms of survey methodologies, such as sampling, commissioning party, timing, concurrent events, demographic information of respondents, survey location, and other relevant data,” said Castro.

Reacting to the adverse comments of Charter change proponents, Pulse Asia president Ronald Holmes stood by the results of the public opinion survey that showed that 88 percent of Filipinos are not supportive of Congress bid to amend the Constitution.

“We have been running the questions for 20 years,” Holmes said.

“The sequence is we start with asking if they favor charter change, in general, then the specific changes proposed now and before are posed later,” he explained.

Pulse Asia is one of two polling firms that have practically pioneered surveying in the country. The other is the Social Weather Station.

Reacting to the comments of leaders of the majority and Charter change advocates, Castro said: “The assertion that nearly 90% of Filipinos are opposed to Cha-cha is valid, as the initial questions posed in the survey clearly indicate a binary choice regarding support or opposition to Cha-cha. This is a reflection of the strong public sentiment against any moves to change the Constitution.”

“Regarding the claim of a smear campaign, Rep. Castro argues that such allegations can also be directed towards pro-Cha-cha proponents and the survey they conducted. It is important to scrutinize the survey firm employed and whether it has been established and used by government officials or agencies in the past,” she said.

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raoul Manuel also backed the Pulse Asia poll, saying that the results of the other poll survey are suspicious.

“This proves that not all surveys are created equal. Kaduda-duda talaga ang methodology nung isang survey na sa pamamagitan lang ng mobile app kinuha ang sagot ng survey respondents,” Manuel said in a statement.

Majority Leader and Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe and Deputy Speaker David Suarez of Quezon, both avid Charter change advocates, were among administration solons to raise swift objection to the Pulse Asia survey.

'Why include questions that people don’t want and are not related to the ongoing process in Congress? Is this black propaganda?” asked Dalipe, who was glaringly disappointed in the Pulse Asia results.

Suarez insisted that the questions posed int he survey were written in a way that would “steer respondents towards a specific viewpoint on Charter amendments.”