The First Quarter 2011 Social Weather Survey, conducted from March 4 to 7, asked 1,200 respondents nationwide, “Who are the persons whom you consider a genuine Filipino hero? You can name up to five persons.”

The SWS did not provide a list of names to prompt the respondents.

Rizal, the country’s national hero, garnered 75 percent of the responses while Bonifacio came next with 34 percent.

Ninoy and Cory got 20 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Marcos in top 10

Rounding up the top 10 are Apolinario Mabini (14 percent), Emilio Aguinaldo (11 percent), Ferdinand Marcos (5.1 percent), Ramon Magsaysay (4.3 percent), Manuel Quezon (3.8 percent) and Lapu-Lapu (3.7 percent).

Almost making it to the top 10 were Melchora Aquino (3.2 percent) and Marcelo del Pilar (3.0 percent).

President Aquino was mentioned by 2.9 percent of the respondents, beating Emilio Jacinto (2.8 percent) and world boxing champion, Rep. Manny Pacquiao (2.6 percent).

Also mentioned in the list were Gabriela Silang (2.6 percent), Gregorio del Pilar (2.2 percent), Juan Luna (1.9 percent) and Manuel Roxas (1.8 percent).

The living

Former President Joseph Estrada was mentioned by 1.8 percent of the respondents, followed by Diosdado Macapagal (1.6 percent) and Fernando Poe Jr. (1.6 percent).

Of the names, only President Aquino, Pacquiao and Estrada are alive.

Fifteen percent consisted of names with less than 1.5 percent of responses. Three percent had no one in mind, while another three percent did not give any answer.

The majority in all areas named Rizal as a genuine hero: 79 percent in both Luzon outside Metro Manila and the Visayas, 74 percent in Metro Manila and 68 percent in Mindanao.

Andres Bonifacio consistently came second with 47 percent in Metro Manila, 35 percent in the Visayas, 34 percent in Luzon outside Metro Manila and 25 percent in Mindanao.

Most cited

SWS noted that Ninoy was third most cited in Metro Manila (33 percent), Visayas (20 percent) and Luzon outside Manila (18 percent), while Cory was third most cited in Mindanao (19 percent).

Across socioeconomic classes, Rizal came first with 79 percent in class E, 75 percent in class D and 70 percent in class ABC.

Bonifacio and Ninoy tied for second in class ABC, both obtaining 23 percent.

Meanwhile, Bonifacio was second most cited in class D (35 percent) and class E (32 percent).

Ninoy was third most cited in class D (22 percent) and class E (12 percent), while Mabini was third most cited in class ABC (20 percent).

SWS used face-to-face interviews for the noncommissioned survey, which has an error margin of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

Inquirer Research