Pinoys don’t want ‘rubbers’ — survey

For whatever reason, not the least of which may be plain machismo, condoms remain the most unpopular means of birth control among Filipino couples for the past seven years, a recent survey said.

The Philippine National Statistics Office (PNSO), in its 2002 Family Planning Survey, said that condom usage "did not vary significantly" from 1995 up to last year.

The survey revealed that of the 29,760 respondents interviewed for the survey nationwide, only 1.6 percent admitted using condoms for birth spacing.

Since 1995, condom usage among respondents chosen for the survey never reached two percent. Though the survey did not offer any explanation for this, it is a widely held belief that Filipino males don’t get as much pleasure when wearing rubbers.

The respondents came from 19,843 sample households. They were women aged 15 to 49, regardless of marital status but who were usual members of the households as well as overseas contract workers present in the households at the time of the interview.

Without offering any explanation, the survey showed that pills have been the favorite contraceptive method of respondents for the past seven years.

Last year, pills usage was pegged at 15.3 percent; followed by female sterilization or ligation at 11 percent; calendar or rhythm at 7.9 percent; withdrawal at 5.3 percent; intra-uterine device at 3.7 percent, and infection at three percent.

"Since 1995, the pill was more commonly used than any other method, whether it is a modern or traditional method," PNSO added.