DAVAO CITY, Philippines – About five in every 10 Dabawenyos who are in a relationship said they already found their “forever” and considered spending the rest of their lives with their present partner.
The survey dubbed as “Together and Forever: A Love Story” said 36 out of the 59 respondents claimed they were into many relationships before they found the “someone whom they can spend their forever with.”
On the other hand, 23 out of 59 respondents said they are in relationships with the person they consider as their “first.”
While majority of Dabawenyos already want to settle with their partners, six percent said they are still waiting for the right person and 17 percent are half truthful to their partners and remains undecided.
Thirty-nine percent of those in romantic relationships have been together for one to five years, while 17 percent are couples who have been together for six to ten years. Some 11 percent of couples have been together for 11 to 15 years and the remaining 3.3 percent are couples who have been together for 41 to more than 50 years.
The survey was conducted by the Institute of Popular Opinion (IPO) of the University of Mindanao from January 31 to February 8 this year and aim ed to determine the state of Dabawenyos romantic relationships.
They surveyed a total of 1,200 Dabawenyos. In every 100 respondents, 50 were females, 48 males and two LGBT members mostly between 21 to 40 years old.
The survey indicates that for every 100 Dabawenyos, 59 are already taken while 41 are not into romantic relationships.
Fifty-nine percent of them are married, followed by 22 percent claimed they are living together with their partner while 19 percent are unwed and only 3 percent are widowed.
Out of 59 are 29 females, 28 males, and two are members of the LGBT community.
Why some remains single
More than half of the 41 percent who are not in a relationship are females while 31 percent are males and 16 percent are members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ( LGBT ) community.
Out of this number, 43 percent of singles opt to focus on their careers than having a love affair, and 38 percent say that family comes first and they do not have time for love.
Thirty-four percent remain single and claimed they are not interested in anyone while 21 percent are still recovering from break-ups and another 21 percent says they are happy spending time with friends.
Meanwhile, 17 percent are not allowed by their parents to be in a relationship, nine percent says that “nobody meets their standard” while four percent said that “no one is available” and the other four percent remains to stay single because of religious beliefs, the survey revealed.
Finding the one
Eighty-eight percent considers the maturity of a person, followed by their financial stability at 72 percent and 58 percent seek the approval of their family. While physical beauty got the least with a percentage of 28 percent.
According to the male respondents, the best age to marry is 29 years old while females prefer to get married at 27.
“Both sexes agree that marriage is still best at the age of 45,” he added.
UM-IPO director for quantitative studies Adrian Tamayo said that “in this study, we were able to find out that Dabawenyos are dedicated lovers. We do not jump into immediate decisions of finding a loved one.” (Jubee Veras/davaotoday.com)
