THE TRULY reliable way for legislators to know how their constituents feel about an issue is to consult scientific opinion polls about it in their areas. This is increasingly possible in the case of the Reproductive Health bill, on which Social Weather Stations did a national survey of adults in September 2008, followed by surveys of persons of reproductive age in Manila, Parañaque and Cebu, from December 2008 to March 2009. The national survey and all three local polls showed great support for the bill.

Now, new local survey data on reproductive health is available from the Bohol Poll, run by Holy Name University (HNU). The new Bohol Poll was done over April 7 to May 9, 2009, using face-to-face interviews of 400 adults, for an error margin of plus or minus 5 percent. It was the poll’s 16th round since it started in 1997, following training by SWS of researchers at HNU’s predecessor, the Divine Word College of Tagbilaran.

The new Bohol Poll took up the issue of reproductive health on its own initiative and with its own resources. It used the exact phrasing of a number of SWS survey questions on the topic, to enhance comparison of the results to those of the earlier surveys. (Asked for permission, SWS said it is pleased to be copied and that permission is unnecessary.) The results cited here are from the Bohol Poll’s press kit.

Most Boholanos (46 percent, the plurality since there are many fence sitters, who neither agree nor disagree) say that “there is a problem of population growth in the province.” This is less dominant than the 69 percent in Manila, 60 percent in Parañaque, and 62 percent in Cebu who agree that population growth is a problem in their areas.

There are 54 percent in Bohol who agree that “population growth increases poverty incidence.” This is strong, yet not as strong as the percentages in Manila (74) Parañaque (71), and Cebu (69).

Those who agree that “population growth worsens environmental degradation” are a plurality of 43 percent in Bohol, and are majorities of 69 percent in Manila, 65 percent in Parañaque, and 62 percent in Cebu.

The percentages who agree that students aged 15-24 should be given adolescent health education in school are very large in Bohol (84), Manila (92), Parañaque (87), and Cebu (88). So are the percentages who agree that young people aged 15-24 should be given family planning information and services – 75 in Bohol, 89 in Manila, 86 in Parañaque, and 86 in Cebu.

All areas have majority percentages who disagree that an unmarried pregnant woman should stop going to school – 62 in Bohol, also 62 in Manila, 56 in Parañaque, and 54 in Cebu.

Most Boholanos disagree that condoms (57 percent), IUDs (55 percent) and pills (54 percent) are means of abortion. Cebuanos who disagree that they amount to abortion are 53, 52 and 50 percent for each method respectively. The results in Bohol and Cebu are similar to the disagreement of 56 percent in Manila, 53 percent in Parañaque, and 50 percent in the Philippines, from an earlier single question grouping condoms, IUDs and pills together instead of asking about each separately. Thus it is clear that condoms, IUDs and pills equally pass the “abortion objection” in the eyes of the public.

Those who feel that the Church interferes in the government program on reproductive health are only a plurality in Bohol (48 percent), compared to outright majorities in Manila (62 percent), Parañaque (66 percent), and Cebu (62 percent).

The Bohol Poll was the only one that probed into opinion as to whether the Church has a clear program for the promotion of natural family planning. Seventy-five percent agreed.

Regarding the Reproductive Health (RH) bill now in Congress, 46 percent of Boholanos said that they were already aware of it; the rest said that they just learned of it on account of being polled. This is exactly the same as the national awareness rate found in the SWS survey of September 2008. The awareness rates in the other local areas were 49 percent in Manila as of December 2008, 49 percent in Parañaque as of February 2009, and 45 percent in Cebu as of March 2009.

The Bohol Poll finds that a majority 52 percent of Boholanos favor passage of the proposed RH bill, and that, on the other hand, only 17 percent of them oppose it. Results of the earlier surveys were even more supportive of the bill: 71 percent nationwide in September 2008, and 86 percent in Manila, 84 percent in Parañaque, and 76 percent in Cebu in the polls from December 2008 to March 2009.

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SWS did its national survey on reproductive health on Sept. 24-27, 2008 on a sample of 1,200 adults (3 percent error margin). It did local surveys on health over Dec. 27-29, 2008 in the City of Manila (600 persons of reproductive age; 4 percent error margin), Feb. 14-17, 2009 in the City of Parañaque (600 persons of reproductive age; 4 percent error margin), and March 28-31, 2009 in District 1 of Cebu City and District 2 of Cebu province (each with 300 persons of reproductive age; 6 percent error margin per district, 4 percent error margin for the total). The Manila, Parañaque, and Cebu surveys were equally divided between males aged 15-54 and females aged 15-49.

The Bohol Poll is implemented by the Center for Research and Local Governance of Holy Name University, in Tagbilaran City, Bohol. HNU president Fr. Francisco T. Estepa, SVD, at kitoestepa@yahoo.com, is also the director of the center. Ms Maria Paz J. Espiritu, at paze69@yahoo.com, the center’s coordinator for research and Ms. Josephine Tortor, at jotorts59@yahoo.com, the center’s coordinator for local governance, take turns in directing the Bohol Poll in a given year.

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Contact SWS: www.sws.org.ph or mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph.