Claim: LUNAS party-list is among the top 3 party-list groups in NCR

Rating: MISLEADING

Context:

Certain news media organizations published news articles about LUNAS party-list landing third in a Metro Manila survey (see, for example, Abante News, 2022; Politiko, 2022).

Headlines like “LUNAS Party-list top 3 sa survey” (Abante News, 2022) and “LUNAS Partylist now No.3 in Metro Manila survey” (Politiko, 2022) are misleading. The survey quoted in these articles concerns the “trust rating” of party-list groups and does not necessarily reflect voter preference of Metro Manila citizens in the 2022 polls.

PilipinasNet.com (n.d.) conducted this “Trust Rating Metro Manila Survey” from March 1 to March 31. The survey results which may be retrieved from its website also lists 45 other party-list groups.

There is no information on the survey’s methodology, particularly the research design, sample size, confidence level and margin of error. The names of PilipinasNet.com’s officials are also unavailable.

PilipinasNet.com (n.d.) states that the survey was commissioned by a certain “AVO Research Institute.” Preliminary searches online do not reveal any significant digital footprint of an AVO Research Institute.

Coincidentally, Pulse Asia Research, Inc. (2022) released its March 17-21 nationwide election survey on April 6. This was also the day when certain news media organizations released the misleading claim about LUNAS party-list.

Aside from information on the presidential, vice-presidential and senatorial races, Pulse Asia’s survey also includes the party-list race. Out of 177 party-list groups participating in the 2022 polls, only eight are found to “surpass the 2.0% voter preference threshold needed to secure at least one (1) seat in the House of Representatives” (Pulse Asia Research, Inc., 2022, para. 37).

LUNAS party-list is not one of these eight party-list groups. In fact, the survey results show that it got only 0.18 percent during the survey period (Pulse Asia Research, Inc., 2022, Table 11). This is below the 2.0% threshold.

References:

Abante News. (2022, April 6). LUNAS party-list top 3 sa survey. Abante. https://www.abante.com.ph/lunas-party-list-top-3-sa-survey/

PilipinasNet.com. (n.d.). NCR 2022 election survey. https://pilipinasnet.com/

Politiko. (2022, April 6). LUNAS partylist now no.3 in Metro Manila survey. https://politics.com.ph/lunas-partylist-now-no-3-in-metro-manila-survey/

Pulse Asia Research, Inc. (2022, April 6). March 2022 nationwide survey on the May 2022 elections. https://www.pulseasia.ph/march-2022-nationwide-survey-on-the-may-2022-elections/

Note: Kontra Daya is a member of fact-checking groups Tsek.PH and #FactsFirstPH. Our independent fact-checks are part of our voter’s education program.