Majority of Filipinos believe that there have been many human rights abuses in President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign, even as they said the number of drug dependents has declined since the Chief Executive took office, a Social Weather Stations survey revealed Monday.
The polling firm said 76 percent of respondents believe there have been many human rights abuses in the administration’s war on illegal drugs while 24 percent said there have been few—a result which Malacañang called “unsurprising.”
“The administration’s war on drugs has been demonized by the relentless disinformation launched by President’s vocal critics and the political opposition at its inception and not without the cooperation of some shameless media outlets,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
Of 1,200 respondents, 56 percent agreed with the United Nations Human Rights Council’s move to investigate the alleged killings committed during the war on illegal drugs, while 20 percent disagreed.
Twenty-four percent were ambivalent with the UNHRC probe, giving +36 or “very strong” net agreement score.
The question on UNHRC’s role stemmed from the Iceland-initiated Resolution adopted by the council in July 2019 which urges the Philippine government to carry out impartial investigations and hold perpetrators responsible.
Over 6,700 drug suspects have been killed since the drug war started in July 2016, according to government data.
Panelo urged the victims of alleged abuses to file complaints against erring authorities “so that justice will be served.”
Last week, a separate SWS survey revealed that 78 percent of Filipinos believed that there were “ninja cops” in the police force, who were supposedly involved in the reselling of illegal drugs that were confiscated during operations.
Meanwhile, the recent survey also said 73 percent of respondents believed the number of illegal drugs has dropped in their area. Fourteen percent said the number has increased, while 12 percent said it stayed the same.
The SWS also bared that 49 percent of respondents agreed that the removal of Vice President Leni Robredo as co-chairperson of Inter-Agency Committee Against Illegal Drugs was an admission that the administration’s anti-narcotics campaign is failing.
Thirty percent were undecided, while 21 percent disagreed with it.
This gives a +28 net agreement score, classified by SWS as “moderately strong.”
The poll, conducted from Dec. 13 to 16 last year, has a sampling error margin of ±3 percent for national percentages.
The SWS survey was conducted almost three weeks after President Duterte fired Robredo for supposedly being a failure.
“The President is unconcerned about the popularity of his policies,” Panelo said.
