Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri has revealed that a rider question in the most recent Pulse Asia survey shows that Filipinos are overwhelmingly in support of partnering with the United States in order to resolve territorial disputes with China over the West Philippine Sea.
Respondents came out 75 percent in favor and 14 percent not in favor, to the question: “Are you in favor or not in favor of strengthening the military ties between the United States and the Philippines amid security tensions in the West Philippine Sea?”
The rest of the respondents marked themselves as not having enough knowledge to form an opinion (2 percent) or “can’t say” (8 percent).
Amid criticisms regarding the participation of the US military in the West Philippine Sea, which has translated to trainings and regular flights within Philippine territory, this data proves that majority of Filipinos are in fact welcome to receiving support from the US military.
This survey comes out just as the Philippines celebrates the seventh year of the landmark 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, or The Hague, which invalidated China’s claims to historic rights within the “nine-dash line,” and effectively recognized the rights of the Philippines to the West Philippine Sea as falling within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The Bench Files 
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