A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in December 2022 found that most Filipinos agree with the voluntary wearing of face masks.

In the survey results released on Monday, March 27, SWS bared that 91 percent of Filipinos approve of the Executive Order (EO) 7 issued in 2022, allowing the voluntary wearing of face masks in indoor and outdoor settings.

Of the 91 percent, 64 percent “strongly approve” while 27 percent “somewhat approve” of the EO.

About 4 percent were “undecided,” 3 percent “somewhat disapprove,” and 1 percent “strongly disapprove” of the voluntary wearing of face masks.

Meanwhile, among those who agree with the EO, 54 percent of Filipinos said they will still use face masks when leaving the house.

Twenty-two percent said they will wear face masks “most of the time” while about 15 percent said they will “sometimes” use a face mask, 8 percent said “rarely,” and 1 percent said “never.”

During the same survey period, SWS found that 91 percent of Filipinos agree with the voluntary wearing of face masks for children in face-to-face classes—65 percent “strongly agree” and 26 percent “somewhat agree.”

Only 3 percent were “undecided,” 3 percent “somewhat disagree,” and 2 percent “strongly disagree.”

However, 81 percent of households with children attending face-to-face classes said they will “always” make their child wear a face mask when going to school.

The Fourth Quarter 2022 SWS survey was conducted from Dec. 10 to 14, 2022, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults, 18 years old and above.

The survey has a sampling error margin of +/-2.8 percent.