PUBLIC satisfaction with top government institutions remained “good” despite single-digit drops in their net satisfaction scores, the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed Tuesday.
In the latest Third Quarter 2017 Social Weather survey fielded among 1,500 adults, nearly half or 49 percent of Filipinos said they were satisfied with the performance of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet, while 17 percent expressed dissatisfaction.
Net satisfaction with the Cabinet also stayed “good” at +32 in September 2017, but two points below the +34 in June 2017.
In related developments:
• As 88 percent of Filipinos continue to support the Duterte administration’s campaign against the drugs based on the latest Pulse Asia survey, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday conceded the challenge now being faced by the government was to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.
The findings of its September 2017 Nationwide Survey on the Campaign Against Illegal Drugs, Gatchalian said, was an indication of the public’s overwhelming public support for the drug war.
Despite the staunch opposition of a vocal, but apparently small minority, he said the results provided the Duterte administration with a crystal-clear mandate to continue the campaign against illegal drugs with renewed vigor.
“The challenge we now face is to continue the War on Drugs in a way which will inspire public confidence in the integrity of law enforcement authorities,” he said.
• Also on Tuesday, a House leader sought a bigger budget for the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency following President Duterte’s announcement that it was tapping the agency to head the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairperson of the House committee on dangerous drugs, said it was only but necessary for the PDEA to be given a huge allocation to be able to help the Duterte administration succeed in its efforts on war on drugs.
“Congress can increase the budget of PDEA so they can hire and train more personnel and acquire additional equipment too,” Barbers said.
PDEA was created in 2002 by virtue of Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act.
Under the proposed P3.767-trillion national budget for 2018, PDEA gets P2.59-billion allocation.
Sixty-two percent said they were satisfied with the performance of the Senate, while 17 percent expressed dissatisfaction.
The Senate’s net satisfaction, meanwhile, stayed “good” at +46 in September 2017, down by 3 points from the previous quarter.
The Supreme Court suffered most from the declines in net satisfaction, down by 7 points to +31 in September.
Some 50 percent said they were satisfied and 19 percent dissatisfied with the high court’s performance.
Only the net satisfaction of the House of Representatives “steadied” which remains unchanged at +34 from the previous quarter.
Fifty-two percent said they were satisfied with the lower House, while 18 percent were dissatisfied.
The latest survey, conducted from September 23-27, had sampling error margins of ±2.5% for national percentages.
Gatchalian said this could be accomplished by instituting reforms to guarantee transparency and accountability in the anti-illegal drug operations, ensuring the constitutional rights of drug suspects and innocent bystanders alike would be respected at all times.
“I am confident the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the government’s vanguard in this renewed battle, will be successful in meeting this challenge head-on,” he said.
“Ultimately, it is my sincere belief that we must stay the course in achieving the vision of a drug-free Philippines. I am one with the President and the Filipino people in the fight to eliminate the scourge of drugs from our society,” he added.
Last weekend, Duterte said the PDEA would perform the function of the Philippine National Police to hold anti-illegal drug raid operations.
“If there are drug operations, I told police do not interfere. If you see a chase and they say it’s drugs, you leave…Now, if the PDEA can do it, well, that’s what you want, to pinpoint the responsibility and anyway, the law says it’s the PDEA who would be the lead agency,” Duterte had said.
But former PDEA chief Dionisio Santiago, chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board, earlier told a congressional hearing the PDEA alone could not perform completely the war on drugs without the help of the PNP because it lacked manpower.
Santiago, who led PDEA between 2002 and 2006, said the agency was “very dependent” on the work of the PNP as far as drug cases are concerned.
Barbers said, however: “We can also complement PDEA with some PNP personnel in the anti-drugs group.”
He also said anti-drug budget allocation of the PNP “can be realigned to PDEA in the meantime.”
The government allocates P900 million to the PNP’s anti-narcotics campaign, dubbed as “Oplan Double Barrel” for 2018.
