38% of Pinoys to vote for candidates favoring Reproductive Health bill - SWS survey

By Helen Flores (The Philippine Star)

Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=557513&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Most Filipino voters will support candidates who favor the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in the May 10 elections, a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

The SWS survey, conducted from Jan. 21 to 24, indicated that 38 percent of registered voters will vote for candidates who favor the RH bill and only six percent will vote for those who oppose it.

The rest of the respondents say it will not affect their vote (20 percent) or they are not aware of the bill (35 percent).

The survey also showed that 68 percent of respondents favor giving couples access to all legal means of family planning from public health services, while 52 percent find natural family planning methods to be “almost always effective” or “effective most of the time.”

The special SWS January 2010 survey module on reproductive health, sponsored by the Forum for Family Planning and Development, used face-to-face interviews of 2,100 registered voters, divided into random samples of 300 in Metro Manila and 600 each in balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The proportions of those who will vote for pro-RH Bill candidates were 43 percent in Metro Manila, 40 percent in balance Luzon, 36 percent in Mindanao, and 34 percent in the Visayas.

The support is the same in different socioeconomic classes: 39 percent in class ABC, 38 percent in class D, and 37 percent in class E.

The survey also found that support for pro-RH bill candidates is 39 percent among Catholics and 34 percent among non-Catholics.The survey revealed that majorities in all areas and economic class support access to all legal means of family planning. It was 78 percent in Metro Manila, 68 percent in both balance Luzon and the Visayas, and 61 percent in Mindanao. By class, it was 75 percent in class ABC, 68 percent in class D, and 65 percent in class E.

Support for access to legal means of family planning was high for both Catholics and non-Catholics, 69 percent among Catholics and 64 percent among non-Catholics, the SWS said.

Twenty-six percent of respondents said the natural family planning method is “almost always effective,” another 26 percent said it is “effective most of the time,” 31 percent “effective only sometimes,” and 16 percent “hardly effective.”

“Opinions hardly vary by area, class, and religion,” the SWS said.

The survey has sampling error margins of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points for national percentages, plus or minus six percentage points for Metro Manila, and plus or minus four percentage points for balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Catholic Church leaders have appealed to voters not to support candidates who are pushing for the RH bill.

House Bill 5043, otherwise known as “The Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood, and Population Development Act of 2008,” makes artificial contraceptives more accessible to the public through health programs and calls for sex education in schools, among others.

The House of Representatives has shelved the Church-opposed reproductive health bill, which was supposed to be debated in plenary.

It was the closest it has ever gotten to being passed in its 23-year existence.

Pinoys favor condom

Another survey, this time by Pulse Asia, showed that a majority of Filipinos would choose or vote for candidates who are in favor of condom and family planning methods.

Ramon San Pascual, Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD) executive director, said latest results of the Pulse Asia survey indicated the need for government family planning programs.

Based on Pulse Asia’s Family Planning Pre-Election Survey (PES), 75 percent of Filipinos think that it is very important or important for a candidate to include family planning in his/her program of action.

The same survey also revealed that 64 percent would vote for candidates who publicly promote modern methods of family planning.

However, 48 percent of those surveyed disagree with the statement, “The church or religion should participate on the issue of what methods couples should use in family planning.”

The survey indicated that a majority of Filipino voters do not believe that using modern methods of family planning is a sin.

When asked whether it is a sin against God to use modern methods of family planning such as pills, IUD (intra-uterine device), ligation and condom, San Pascual said more than half or 51 percent of respondents directly contradict the position of the Catholic Church.

Only 29 percent agreed with the Catholic Church’s position while 20 percent are undecided.

San Pascual pointed out that if the next president is serious in addressing poverty in the country, then he/she must face head on the issue of family planning.

“The next president must have a concrete program of action in helping couples, especially the poor, to plan their families,” he said, adding that the next president must not be cowed by the Catholic Church’s opposition to modern and effective methods of family planning.

The survey was conducted from Feb. 21 to 25, at the height of the controversy on the DOH Valentine’s Day HIV and AIDS awareness campaign.

A high 87 percent said it is very important for the government to allocate funds for modern methods of family planning, such as pills, IUD, ligation, condom and vasectomy.

“The latest survey result is an indication of the Filipino’s clamor for family planning services. It is very clear that Catholics are ignoring the bishops’ objections on using modern contraceptives,” he said. – Mayen Jaymalin