Half of adult Filipinos surveyed by Social Weather Stations in March said estranged couples who are living apart should be allowed to divorce so they could find another spouse, the Manila-based pollster said.
A third of respondents disagreed while the rest were undecided, it added.
"Net agreement (was) a big change from merely neutral opinion six years ago, when 43 percent agreed and 44 percent disagreed," SWS said.
The shift was mostly due to changing views among men -- whether married or single -- and married women, as well as both sexes among poorer classes, the polling firm added.
The Philippines, Malta, and the Vatican city-state are the only places in the world where divorce is still outlawed, but overwhelmingly Catholic Malta voted last week in favour of legalising it, in a non-binding referendum.
It is now up to the Maltese parliament to legalise the dissolution of marriage there.
The Philippine House of Representatives, one of two chambers of the legislature, began debating a bill to legalise divorce this week amid strong opposition from the Catholic church, to which 85 percent of Filipinos adhere.
Read more: Yahoo news
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