SWS: 6 in 10 Filipinos believe drug war targets poor people

Six out of 10 Filipinos believe that only drug suspects from the ranks of the poor have been targeted for killings, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Monday.

The survey said 33 percent of Filipinos strongly agreed and 27 percent somewhat agreed to the proposition: “Hindi pinapatay ang mga mayayaman na drug pusher; ang mga pinapatay ay ang mahihirap lamang.” (Rich drug pushers are not killed; only the poor ones are killed.)

Twenty-three percent disagreed with the statement (12 percent somewhat disagree, 11 percent strongly disagree) and 17 percent were undecided on the matter.

75% in NCR agree

The highest proportion of those who agreed that only poor drug pushers are killed is in Metro Manila, with 75 percent (48 percent strongly agree, 27 percent somewhat agree) agreeing.

Mindanao, President Rodrigo Duterte's home island region, follows with 59 percent agreeing (34 percent strongly agree, 25 percent somewhat agree).

Balance Luzon is third with 58 percent (28 percent strongly agree, 30 percent somewhat agree), while in the Visayas those who agree that the drug war targets the poor comprise 53 percent (31 percent strongly agree, 22 percent somewhat agree) of the respondents.

Malacañang earlier said the war on drugs is not targeting the poor.

"The war on drugs is not targeted at any particular segment of society," Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement on March 27.

Abella, however, acknowledged that there was "great demand" for shabu "from users and distributors both coming from poor families."

"Poverty, however, does not justify the use and selling of shabu. As the President said, he has to clean up the streets of drug users, pushers and dealers, regardless of their socioeconomic status in life," Abella said.

Duterte's 'narco-list'

In the same survey, 74 percent of the respondents indicated that President Rodrigo Duterte should expose his list of drug personalities and charge them in court.

At 82 percent, Metro Manila holds the highest proportion of those who agree
(51 percent strongly agree, 31 percent somewhat agree) that the President should fully disclose the so-called narco-list and press charges against the drug personalities.

Metro Manila was followed by Balance Luzon at 75 percent (44 percent strongly agree, 31 percent somewhat agree), Mindanao at 71 percent (48 percent strongly agree, 23 percent somewhat agree), and the Visayas at 69 percenr (46 percent strongly agree, 23 percent somewhat agree).

Still iffy on 'nanlaban'

Meanwhile, opinions about the truthfulness of police's claims that slain drug suspects resisted arrest remained split.

The June 23-26 survey found that 25 percent of the respondents said the police are telling the truth, 28 percent said the police are not telling the truth, and the plurality of 48 percent were unsure whether the police are telling the truth or not.

By comparison, the March 2017 survey indicated that 24 percent of the respondents said the police are telling the truth, 31 percent said the police are not telling the truth, and the plurality of 44 percent were unsure.

The proportion of those unsure whether the police are telling the truth or not was highest in Balance Luzon at 53 percent, followed by Mindanao at 46 percent, Metro Manila at 44 percent, and Visayas at 42 percent.

At 39 percent, the highest proportion of those who say the police are not telling the truth was in Metro Manila, followed by Balance Luzon at 27 percent, Visayas at 25 percent and Mindanao at 23 percent.

The proportion of those who say the police are telling the truth was highest in the Visayas at 33 percent followed by Mindanao at 30 percent, Balance Luzon at 21 percent and Metro Manila 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. — BM, GMA News