145 The Curious Cases of Philippine Civil Society and Decentralization Table 1. Membership in civil society organizations, by major area groups. Pulse Asia Ulat ng Bayan, October 2010 Survey: October 21-29, 2010. Base: Total Philippine Population AREA/TYPE OF ORGANIZATION Base PHILS 100 NCR BALANCE OF LUZON VISAYAS 100 100 100 100 NON-MEMBER 95.1 97.1 97.7 94.9 89.6 CHURCH OR RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS 2.1 1.4 1.3 1.9 4.1 SECTORAL GROUPS (WOMEN, YOUTH, FARMERS, LABOR, SENIOR CITIZENS, TRANSPORT WORKERS) 1.3 0.3 0.4 1.0 4.1 1.1 0.4 1.9 1.3 0.1 0.1 0.6 0.1 0.3 COOPERATIVE 1 PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION 0.2 CIVIC OR VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS LIKE JAYCEES, PHILIPPINE RED CROSS, ETC. 0.1 OTHER NGOS MINDANAO 0 0.1 Question: (Is (name) currently a member of a group, organization or cooperative or not? SHOWCARD of types of organizations2 In an earlier survey (see Table 2) conducted by the Social Weather Stations, the number of “active” members of civil society members is higher, as 45.7% (see Table 2 )of adult Filiipinos (18 years old an above) claimed to be involved in a civil society organization. Working with an estimated 55 milion adult Filipinos, the reported percentage of actively involved Filipinos brings the membership “ceiling” of civil society organizations to over 25 million Filipinos. Table 2. Membership in civil society organizations. 2009. Figures In % Membership All civil society groups Active Member 45.7 Inactive member 37.0 Source: Philippine Civil Society Index Draft Report, January 2011 Do not belong 17.3 3 The discrepancy in the figures from these two surveys is a function, at the very least, of the differences in the framing of the relevant items in the questionnaire. Nonetheless, the two projections net us a probable floor (4.7 million) and ceiling (25 million) as regards the membership of civil society organizations. Aside from these data, we also explore other dimensions of the “robustness” of civil society by looking at a specific form of association, labor unions. Historically, labor unions have been an important part of civil society groups and were relied on by social movements from the 1960s onwards. One