50% OKs divorce for ‘irreconcilably separated’ couples – SWS

The March 2024 Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll on the legalization of divorce in the Philippines show that 50 percent of Filipino adults nationwide think that divorce should be an option for couples who are “irreconcilably separated.” INQUIRER.net stock image

MANILA, Philippines — Fifty percent of Filipino adults nationwide think that divorce should be an option for couples who are “irreconcilably separated,” the March 2024 Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll showed.

The same data from SWS indicated that 31 percent of Filipino adults surveyed were not in favor of divorce while 17 percent were undecided about the issue.

SWS said agreement with legalizing divorce was down from 55 percent in June 2023 and 65 percent in March 2023.

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Likewise, the survey results had a net agreement score of +19, which is considered “moderately strong” although a decrease from the +27 net agreement score that the SWS obtained from its June 2023 audit on the legalization of divorce in the country.

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Divorce

According to the SWS, the net agreement score on divorce was very strong for people with live-in partners compared to other demographics such as those who were unmarried, widowed and separated individuals, and married people.

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It was highest in Metro Manila, followed by Balance Luzon or Luzon outside Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

By religion, the SWS said the net agreement score on the legalization of divorce in the country was highest for other Christian denominations at +21; Roman Catholics, +20; and Muslims at +11. The polling firm noted, however, that the issue is “moderately weak” for Iglesia ni Cristo at -10.

The SWS March 2024 survey on divorce involved 1,500 adults, composed of 600 from Balance Luzon, and 300 each from Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its sampling error margins were at ± 2.5 percent for national percentages, ± 4.0 percent for Balance Luzon, and ± 5.7 percent  each for Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.