CHEATING doesn’t always mean an affair.
For many Filipinos, it can start with secret chats, emotional closeness with someone else, or even choosing a phone or game over a partner.
A nationwide survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) found that 27 percent of adult Filipinos have personally witnessed or experienced some form of cheating in a relationship.
Physical cheating and emotional cheating topped the list, each reported by 11 percent of respondents.
Physical cheating includes having sex or dating someone outside the relationship, while emotional cheating means developing romantic feelings and sharing personal problems with someone other than one’s partner.
Cheating today also takes less obvious forms. About six percent cited cybercheating, such as hidden social media accounts or secret online chats.
Another six percent reported object cheating or giving too much attention to gadgets, games, or material things at the expense of a partner.
There is also financial cheating which was reported by five percent, which involves hidden purchases or debts, while four percent cited micro-cheating, such as using affectionate terms like “baby,” “honey” or “love” with someone else or concealing one’s relationship status.
Around eight percent said they experienced two or more types of cheating.
Despite these experiences, many Filipinos believe relationships can still be restored after cheating, with 43 percent.
Those who said relationships will no longer recover after cheating was at 36 percent, while 19 percent remained undecided.
The survey interviewed 1,200 adults aged 18 and above nationwide through face-to-face interviews, with respondents evenly split between men and women, and between urban and rural areas.
The sample included 300 respondents each from Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, with a national sampling error margin of ±3 percent. (JJL)