Almost half of Pinoys think slays of innocent people in drug war are inevitable —SWS

Almost half of Filipinos believe it is inevitable for innocent individuals to get killed in the government's anti-drug war, according to a third quarter survey by the Social Weather Stations.

The same survey, however, showed that four out of 10 respondents believe it is wrong to kill people who use drugs.

Conducted from September 23-27, 2017 using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults, the survey showed 46% of adult Filipinos agree (21% strongly agree, 24% somewhat agree, correctly rounded) with the statement, “Hindi maiiwasan na may mamatay na inosenteng mamamayan upang tuluyang masugpo ang illegal na droga sa ating bansa."

Meanwhile, 35% disagree (15% somewhat disagree , 20% strongly disagree) that it cannot be avoided that there are innocent people killed to eradicate the drug problem in the country, and 19% are undecided.

The survey has sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.

The September 2017 survey, however, found that 42% disagree (23% strongly disagree, 19% somewhat disagree) with the statement, “Tama lang na mapatay ang mga taong gumagamit o sangkot sa bentahan ng illegal na droga.

Of those surveyed, 39% meanwhile agree (20% strongly agree, 19% somewhat agree) that it is only right for drug users to get killed, and 18% are undecided.

Almost half of the respondents (49%) also believe that in their area, the administration probably has people who secretly observe and report drug users and peddlers.

Only 19% think otherwise, and 31% are undecided.

— MDM, GMA News