A little over half of Filipinos were against proposals that will legalize divorce in the Philippines, a survey conducted by the OCTA Research has shown.

OCTA’s “Tugon ng Masa” Third Quarter 2023 survey results released on Tuesday, Dec. 5 found that “51 percent of adult Filipinos are not in favor of passing a law to legalize divorce in the Philippines.”

“However, 41 percent of adult Filipinos are in favor of legalizing divorce in the country, while 9 percent are undecided,” it added.

The percentage of adult Filipinos who favor passing a law legalizing divorce ranged from 33 to 48 percent across major areas.

Mindanao has the most support (48 percent), followed by Metro Manila (46 percent), and Visayas has the least (33 percent).

Meanwhile, the percentage of adult Filipinos opposed to legalizing divorce is highest in Visayas (59 percent) and lowest in Metro Manila (39 percent).

In addition, the proportion of adult Filipinos who were undecided was highest in Metro Manila (15 percent).

Divorce law gets highest support among Class D, Northern Mindanao, 18-24 years old

According to OCTA, the percentage of adult Filipinos who support passing a law to legalize divorce in the country ranged from 29 to 42 percent, with the highest support coming from Filipinos in Class D (42 percent).

Meanwhile, those opposed to legalizing divorce were most prevalent among Filipinos in Class ABC (70 percent), while those undecided were most prevalent among Filipinos in Class E (19 percent).

Across regions, the percentage of Filipinos who were in favor of passing a law to legalize divorce ranges from zero to 78 percent.

Northern Mindanao gave the highest support (78 percent), while the Cagayan Valley provided the least support (zero).

Meanwhile, the percentage of Filipinos who oppose passing legislation to legalize divorce in the country was highest in the Cagayan Valley (96 percent) and lowest in Northern Mindanao (14 percent).

Furthermore, those in Mimaropa (Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan have the highest percentage of ambivalent views on legalizing divorce at 29 percent.

In terms of age groups, the percentage of Filipinos who supported legalizing divorce ranged from 8 to 54 percent.

Filipinos aged 18 to 24 gave the highest support (54 percent), while those aged 75 and up provided the least (8 percent).

Meanwhile, the percentage of those opposed to passing a law legalizing divorce was highest among aged 67 to 74 (78 percent), and lowest among aged 18 to 24 (34 percent).

Moreover, Filipinos aged 75 and up (25 percent) were the most ambivalent about passing a law legalizing divorce.

The Third Quarter 2023 Tugon ng Masa survey was fielded from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 through face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adult respondents nationwide.

The findings in the OCTA’s divorce report were made available as a public service and were not commissioned.

It has a ±3 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level, with subnational estimates for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao at a ±6 percent margin of error.