MANILA, Philippines?About seven out of 10 Filipinos favor the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill, which requires government to distribute contraceptives like condoms, IUDs and pills, the Social Weather Station said in its latest survey.

Seventy-six percent of adult Filipinos want family planning education in the public schools, according to the 3rd quarter survey of SWS.

?Support for both family planning education and for passage of the RH bill is very high among both Catholics and non-Catholics,? it said. ?Regularity of church-going, and trust in the Catholic church, have no effect on support for the RH Bill.?

About 71 percent of surveyed Catholics and 68 percent of non-Catholics favor its passage.

?Clearly, doctrines advocated by the Church hierarchy do not reflect the diversity of attitudes and practices among the Catholic faithful themselves,? said Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, principal author of the proposed measure also known as House Bill 5043.

The Catholic Church has been opposing the bill, saying it promotes a "culture of death and immorality."

It believes the bill promotes abortion and promiscuity among the youth.

The survey, conducted on September 24-27, also found that support for family planning education is high even among those against the reproductive health bill.

Support for family planning education is four out of five among those who favor the passage of the RH Bill (80 percent), and two out of three among those not in favor (68 percent) and those undecided (65 percent).

The third-quarter survey of SWS was conducted by face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao and 600 in balance Luzon.

Lagman said the SWS survey strengthened the resolve of the 113 coauthors of the measure and boost the chances of its passage in the lower chamber.

He said the latest SWS survey results echoed those that have been conducted by Pulse Asia in 2001, 2004 and 2007, which consistently showed Filipinos believed in the importance of family planning and would like to have access to information that would help them act responsibly.

HB 5043 requires government hospitals to include contraceptives in their supply purchases and would require mandatory reproductive health education in schools, which are both opposed by the Catholic Church.

It would also require local governments to employ enough midwives or attendants for a ratio of one for every 150 deliveries per year; to have an emergency obstetric care and maternal death review; and to provide mobile health care services.

Congressional debates on the bill resume next month. With a report from Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon Bureau