Palace blames critics after poll shows majority of Pinoys fear being victims of EJK

Malacañang on Monday blamed critics after a recent survey showed majority of Filipinos were worried that they could become victims of extrajudicial killings.

Nearly eight out of 10 Filipinos were worried that they or anyone they knew will be a victim of extrajudicial killings or EJK, according to the Fourth Quarter 2018 Social Weather Stations Survey.

The survey also found that 50 percent believe that only the poor are victimized by EJK.

The results came in the heels of President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncement that his administration would be relentless in its war against illegal drugs, which has claimed a total of 5,176 lives from July 1, 2016 to January 31, 2019 based on government data.

Human rights groups and critics say the number of deaths could be as high as 20,000.

“We understand this concern of our people given the grossly inflated number of drug-related killings falsely peddled and grotesquely sensationalized by the incorrigible critics of the government’s campaign against prohibited drugs,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

“For the umpteenth time, we do not tolerate EJKs nor knowingly allow them to happen. EJKs and vigilante killings are not state-sanctioned nor state-sponsored,” he said.

Panelo said Duterte’s intolerance towards abuse by authorities remained unchanged and that the government is investigating “all complaints and allegations of extrajudicial deaths to ensure that perpetrators will not escape accountability.”

“Impunity has no place in the Duterte administration nor can it find sanctuary elsewhere,” he said.

The Palace nonetheless welcomed the result showing 71 percent believe that the Duterte administration is serious in solving the EJK problem – an increase of 8 percent from the previous 63 percent last June 2017.

“The vilification campaign against the drug war and the demonization of the President by the cantankerous and vociferous political opposition as well as the most vocal detractors are ignored by the citizenry as they express their confidence in the administration’s capability in finding a solution to the EJKs,” Panelo said. —KBK, GMA News