84% of Filipinos worried about armed conflict with China

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — A lot of Filipinos — that is, 84% — are worried that the Philippines might get into armed conflict with China over their maritime territorial dispute.

But slightly less than half — or 49% — support government moves over Scarborough Shoal, among the areas both countries are claiming.

These are the findings of the First Quarter 2015 Social Weather Survey.

The Social Weather Stations (SWS) conducted the survey from March 20 to 23 among 1,200 adult respondents nationwide.

BusinessWorld, as SWS media partner in polling, first published the results exclusively in its June 18 issue.

The survey was not commissioned, SWS said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday (June 18).

SWS did it on its "own and released as a public service."

One of the questions was: "In general, do you approve or disapprove of our government's actions regarding the tension between China and the Philippines in the Scarborough Shoal?"

And answer choices were: strongly approve, somewhat approve, undecided if approve or disapprove, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove.

Another question was: "How worried are you that there will be an armed conflict between the Philippines and China over the disputed islands in Scarborough Shoal?"

Meanwhile, the answer choices were: worried a great deal, somewhat worried, not too worried, or not worried at all.