Many Filipinos do not believe that drug suspects who were killed put up a fight during anti-drug operations, the lastest survey by the Social Weather Stations showed.
The Second Quarter 2017 Social Weather Survey, conducted among 1,200 respondents, revealed that more than half or 54 percent did not believe that drug suspects shot it out with the cops.
Among these, 20 percent strongly agreed that slain suspects did not shoot it out with the cops.
Some 25 percent were undecided while the remaining 20 percent disagreed.
Human Rights Watch said the survey findings were not suprising.
“The findings by the Social Weather Stations are not surprising given the critical mass of compelling evidence compiled by Human Rights Watch and investigative journalists that clearly demonstrates that Philippine National Police personnel and their agents have for the past 15 months conducted an unlawful killing campaign under the cynical veneer of ‘anti-drug/ operations,” said Phelim Kine, Deputy Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.
“Human Rights Watch research documented cases based on eyewitness accounts that contradicted the claims by the police and the government that the thousands of victims of the ‘drug war–men, women and children—were all shot dead because they ‘fought back.’” said Kine.
“HRW’s research into many of these anti-drug operations clearly shows the intent of police and their agents to summarily execute the victims…Police claims that the victims fought back—hence forcing the police to shoot them down—were thoroughly debunked in most of the cases Human Rights Watch documented,” Kine added.