As the Duterte administration continues to push for warmer ties with China, the latest survey by Pulse Asia found that a majority of Filipinos want the Philippine government to assert its rights in the West Philippine Sea. In the survey of 1,200 people, 84 percent of those asked agreed that the government should uphold its rights in the disputed region as stipulated in the July 2016 decision of the Permanent Court Act of Arbitration that ruled in favor of the Philippine claim. The survey was conducted from December 6 to 11, 2016, two months after Duterte's state visit to China that to many signaled his administration's pivot away from its traditional ally, the United States.

8 of 10 Pinoys want to assert rights in West Philippine Sea. (2017, January 26). Malaya Business Insight, p. B4.