SWS: 63% of Pinoys believe drug suspects still killed despite surrendering

Sixty-three percent of Filipinos believe there are suspects in the illegal drug trade who were killed despite surrendering, according to the Second Quarter 2017 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released Friday.

According to the survey, 30 percent of surveyed Filipinos strongly agreed, and another 32 percent somewhat agreed, with the survey question "May mga suspect sa illegal na bentahan ng duroga na sumuko na, pero pinatay pa."

Seventeen percent were undecided on the matter, while 11 percent somewhat disagreed, and nine percent strongly disagreed that there are drug suspects who surrendered but still got killed.

At 75 percent, Metro Manila holds the highest proportion of those who strongly (41 percent), and somewhat agree (34 percent) with the survey question.

Meanwhile, 63 percent of Mindanao respondents agreed with the statement (35 percent strongly agree, and 28 percent somewhat agree). Balance Luzon was at 63 percent (26 percent strongly agree, and 36 percent somewhat agree). Fifty-three percent of Visayas respondents, meanwhile agreed with the statement (28 percent strongly agree, 25 percent somewhat agree).

The survey also said 17 percent of the respondents know someone who was falsely summoned for the government's "Oplan Tokhang."

Metro Manila, at 22 percent, held the highest proportion of agreement to the question: "Mayroon ba kayong kilalang tinawag ng mga pulis para sa Oplan Tokhang ngunit hindi naman sila drug pusher?"

Eighteen percent of respondents in Visayas agreed with the statement, followed by Balance Luzon and Mindanao, both at 16 percent.

The non-commissioned survey was conducted from June 23-26, 2017 through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults aged 18 and above, equally distributed among Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Sampling error margins were at ±3 percent for national percentages, and ±6 percent for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

SWS was recently slammed by presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella for asking "leading and pointed questions" in their national surveys. He was reacting to a recent SWS survey on slain drug suspects, which said 54 percent of Filipinos strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: "Marami sa mga pinatay ng mga pulis sa kampanya laban sa ilegal na droga ay hindi totoong nanlaban sa pulis."

“It seems the 2nd Quarter Social Weather Stations (SWS) Survey contains leading and pointed questions that may have unduly influenced the answers of respondents,” Abella said.

“We expect pollsters to exercise prudence and objectivity to arrive at a closer approximation of public sentiment,” he added. —KG, GMA News