Profile of Youth in Eastern Visayas by Selected Characteristics

Characteristics	Male	Female	Total
Sex	51.2	48.8	100.0
Mean Age	19.76	20.09	19.93
Marital Status
Single	85.9	63.1	74.3
Married	14.1	36.9	25.7
Educational Attainment
Elementary	25.2	13.9	19.4
HS undergraduate	29.2	29.9	29.5
HS graduate/vocational	22.6	24.1	23.4
College or higher	23.0	32.1	27.7
Religion
Roman Catholics	91.1	91.6	91.4
Non-Roman Catholics	8.9	8.4	8.6
Religious Attendance
Once/more than once a week	43.0	58.2	50.8
Once/2-3 times a month	32.7	26.3	29.4
Once/2-3 times a year	24.3	15.6	19.8
Place of Residence
Urban	29.4	34.9	32.2
Rural	70.6	65.1	67.8
Urban Exposure
Without exposure	45.6	25.5	36.0
With exposure	54.4	74.5	64.0
Employment Status
Ever worked	66.4	58.6	62.4
Never worked	33.6	41.4	37.6
Schooling Status
In school	42.7	43.4	43.1
Not in school anymore	57.3	56.6	56.9

Figures above are expressed in percentage points with N=825.
The 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality (YAFS) survey (latest YAFS survey) conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and Demographic Research and Development Foundation (DRDF) interviewed 825 adolescents aged 15-27 years old in Eastern Visayas. By using software used in statistical analysis known as SPSS, or Statistical Packages for Social Sciences, I come up with the following profile of young adolescents in Region VIII (Eastern Visayas). The variables presented here are selected. Only those variables that may affect the decision of young adults to leave their parental homes are included.
Females outnumbered the males (51.2 % vs. 48.8%). This is consistent with the national data that there are more females than males in the Philippines in early 2000. Gals have to compete with other ladies in search for gentlemen. This is good news though for males. We don’t have to hurry on getting married – there’s an oversupply of women. I may need to look for the most recent data on sex distribution. The National Statistics Office (NSO) for sure has this data. The latest data available would be coming from the latest national Census on Population conducted in August 2007.
The mean age of the respondents is 19.93 years, with females slightly older (mean age is 20.09 years) than males (mean age is 19.76 years). There is 74.3 percent who were still single while 25.7 percent were married. This only shows that many young people today delay marriage. One possible explanation could be attributed to the financial burden that it may take when one is married and have children. With rising costs of living and almost every commodity raises its price regularly, majority of young people from Eastern Visayas opted to stay single until they find stable jobs. A higher proportion of females are married compared to the males (36.9 % vs. 14.1 %). Does this mean Waray males don’t really bother getting married at an earlier age? Well, as I said, there’s an oversupply of women. In our locality about 38 kilometers away from Tacloban City, I observed that there are really more females than males who are living together (live-in) with their partners and then civil marriage follow. Though the church prohibits pre-marital sex (PMS), it seems that it’s the trend nowadays. As you see, there are brides who are pregnant walking through the aisle of the church going to the altar.
In terms of education attainment, 19.4 percent have at least elementary education while 27.7 percent reached college or higher. Majority of the youth have at least high school education (29.5 %). There is a higher proportion of females than males who have attained in all educational levels except for elementary (29.9 % vs. 29.2 %, high school undergraduate; 24.1 % vs. 22.6 %, high school graduate/vocational; 32.1 % vs. 23.0%, college or higher). These figures may suggest that female youth in Eastern Visayas are more educated and are more inclined or serious in their studies to finish college education than their counterparts.
Given the Philippines as the only Roman Catholic nation in Asia, we would expect that there would be more Catholic youth than adherents of other religions. In fact, 91.4 percent belong to the Roman Catholic Church while the rest belong to other religions. Non-Catholics comprised 8.6 percent which includes Born-Again Christians and members from other religious sects such as Iglesia ni Cristo, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh-Day Adventists. Religiosity is high among the youth, with 50.8 percent of attending religious services at least once a week. Females are more religious than males (58.2 % vs. 43.0 %). Given these figures, one could observe that being religious doesn’t necessarily mean the youth strictly follow the church’s teachings against PMS and other sexually risk-taking behaviors.
Majority of youth live in rural areas (67.8 %). There are fewer females than males who live in rural areas (65.1 % vs. 70.6 %). However, urban exposure is high with 64.0 percent having experienced living in a city or poblacion. About three-fourths of them are females. About 37.6 percent of youth never worked. More males than females have experienced working (66.4 % vs. 58.6 %). Moreover, 43.1 percent of the youth were in school while the rest were not in school with more females than males who attended school from January to March 2002 (43.4 % vs. 42.7 %). This is consistent with the earlier finding that there are more females than males in Eastern Visayas who have reached high school, college, or higher educational level.

THE STORY OF A YOUNG MAN

There was a young man who has been inflicted with painful experiences for years. When he was sixteen, he received Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. For three years, he is haunted with bitter memories of his past. Since that time, his one goal was to overcome or at least reduce the pain in his heart. Because he was a committed Christian, things like drinking, although tempting especially at his young age, were out. He felt reluctant to allow himself to become close to anyone, and therefore shared his burden to no one.

Contrary to what he's been expecting, he fell again to sin. Enticed with the worldly passions, he began to associate himself with his former friends--what he considered his "barkadas". Until such a time that Satan finally caught him in his net. He was so weak, frustrated, confused and no one seems to understand him. People around him whom he considered his "spiritual leaders" could not take the reality that he fell to a deep abyss. He could not feel the love and care from them. Or maybe he could not grasp it that time. He became rebellious, letting himself be influenced with things that are in this world.

And here comes the "turning point" of his life--he then realized that he has to stand up, to be firm in his faith, to show the world that God is able in his life. He met persons who helped him a lot to become strong in the Lord. In spite of these, there is still longing in his heart that is unmet. The only method he'd found that could soothe his throbbing soul was to become active in the ministry. Once more, he attended church regularly, pray as often as he could, participate in his para-church ministry where he is involved, and the list goes on. In his understanding of things, he was turning to God for help. He was renewing his mind through time in the Word. Whenever the images of his past crowded into his mind, whenever the circumstances that lead to his downfall flooded him, he quickly reached his Bible and read verses. He quickly prays to the Lord that all those things fade away totally from his memory and he firmly believes that God will answer. For three years, he'd been following this procedure. As a result, he became nervous. His life presented him with a level of pain he was determined not to feel.

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The young man obviously wanted to relieve the ache in his soul that comes from unsatisfied longings. When the pain of rejection, isolation, failure, and weakness began to creep in his stomach, he feels like he's approaching to death. His very survival seems to depend on numbing the pain and finding some way to feel better. Eating, going with his friends, masturbating, studying, joining church activities, etc.--the young man got to do something to avoid the paralyzing ache he fear so deeply. And that was a routine for three years! The simple fact that he has to face is this: Something is wrong with everything! No matter how closely he walks with the Lord, he cannot escape the impact of a disappointing and sometimes evil world. A core sadness that will not go away is evidence not of spiritual immaturity, but of honest living in a sad world.

Now that the young man has found his strength and joy of his salvation in the Lord, he is enjoying God's presence with gladness. He draws hope from others who are learning how God meet them in their struggles. He longs for what he designed to enjoy: It's okay to desire. And he want what he cannot have until Heaven: it's okay to hurt. Jesus said: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink."

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I am thirsty. I long for what I do not have. I'm already a Christian. Insofar as I know my heart, I will follow Him for the rest of my life..
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MAN'S UNSATISFIED LONGINGS