SWS: Majority of Manileños want RH policy

by DAVID DIZON, abs-cbnNEWS.com

Majority of residents in Manila want the city government to have its own policy on reproductive health, a survey conducted by research firm Social Weather Stations (SWS) said Wednesday.  

The SWS Special Omnibus Survey on General Health in Manila was conducted last December 27-29 and interviewed a total of 600 men and women of reproductive age in all six districts of Manila.  

The survey showed that 88 percent of Manila residents of reproductive age agree that Manila should have a policy on reproductive health while 86 percent say that there should be a national law on reproductive health. Ninety-two percent of non-Catholics interviewed for the survey favor the passage of the reproductive health bill while 85 percent of Catholics surveyed also favored the bill.  

SWS President Mahar Mangahas said majority of Manileños agree on several issues:

• 69 percent believe that there is a population growth problem in Manila as well as the Philippines;
• 70 percent believe that population growth slows down economic growth; and,
• 74 percent believe that population growth increases poverty incidence.

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Junice Melgar, executive director of Linangan ng mga Kababaihan (Likhaan), said the SWS survey results are an indictment of EO 003 and shows a "dissonance between the pulse of the people and the policymakers."

She said poor women interviewed by Likhaan related how the lack of information on other methods of family planning resulted in poverty, poor health of children and even strained relationships of couples.

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