SWS: More Pinoys to vote for pro-RH senators

MANILA, Philippines - A recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed more Filipino adults will vote in the May 2013 elections for candidates who supported the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

The SWS national survey, conducted from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, found 33 percent of adults saying they will vote for a pro-RH senatorial candidate against nine percent who said they would choose an anti-RH individual.

The poll also found 57 percent of 1, 200 adult respondents saying that the RH issue is irrelevant in their selection of a candidate.

Three in 10 or 33 percent of respondents, meanwhile, said they would support a pro-RH congressional candidate while nine percent said otherwise.

More than half or 58 percent said the issue is irrelevant.

“As Congress makes a decision on the RH bill, the result of this opinion survey continues to prove the public support for the measure,” Benjamin de Leon, president of Forum for Family Planning and Development and commissioner of the Commission on Population, said.

“This survey, like all the other surveys done in the past, favors the passage of the RH bill,” De Leon said.

The House of Representatives was expected to vote on the population control measure yesterday.

The Forum, a staunch supporter of the bill, is confident that anti-RH representatives will honor the agreement.

A separate survey by the SWS, which was released last week, showed 64 percent of adolescents - 15 to 19 years old - in the national capital region are in favor of the bill versus 19 percent who are not in favor. The remaining 17 percent were undecided.

“The SWS surveys correct myths and help challenge the scare tactics of the Catholic hierarchy against our legislators and other politicians. For me, our surveys show that there is a Catholic vote in favor of the RH bill,” De Leon said.