MANILA, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- About 70 percent of adult Filipinoshave not used any form of birth control despite the acknowledgment of 96 percent that a family planning program is needed, a survey released Saturday said.

    According to the survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) conducted in late November and early December, pills were the most popular form of birth control, used by 14 percent of 1,200 interviewed adult Filipinos.

    The "natural" family planning methods allowed by the Roman Catholic church have only been adopted by about five percent, suchas the rhythm and the so-called "mucus billings" method, the survey said.

    The government has launched a "door-to-door" campaign to promote family planning, which, as the survey found, is believed by 96 percent of respondents to be useful to control the country'sballooning population.

    The Philippines with a population of 84 million has been warnedby economists and multilateral lenders of major risks if it keep its population growing at the rate of 2.3 percent.

    However, the government has to remove the resistance from the Catholic church before it implements population control programs which involve artificial contraceptives.

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