In a recently published survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS), it shows that 84 percent of Filipinos believe that President Rodrigo Duterte’s all-out war on illegal drugs is “excellent” but 71 percent believe it is “very important” for drug suspects to be caught alive.
The survey was conducted from Sep 24-27, 2016 through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults from all over the country.
Out of 1,200 adults, 84 percent said they were satisfied (54 percent “very satisfied” and 30 percent “somewhat satisfied”) by this administration’s initiatives to eradicate drugs, giving it a net satisfaction rating of +76, which falls under the “excellent” category.
Only eight percent of the respondents said they were dissatisfied or undecided.
When asked about the survey results, Presidential Communications Sec. Martin Andanar told InterAksyon, “This is what our people wanted and this is still what they want; and this is a job that the President is tasked to finish until the last drug pusher and dealer surrender, put behind bars or out of the streets.”
On the other hand, despite the high satisfaction rating, 71 percent of the respondents believe catching suspects alive is “very important” and 23 percent believe it’s “somewhat important.”
83 percent of the respondents also believe that the drug war “does not discriminate by class,” despite the alarming number of killed and jailed small-time drug users and dealers compared to the somewhat special treatment given to high-profile drug lords and even narco-politicians.
Only 13 percent believe the war is targeting the poor, while four percent believe the war is focusing on the rich.
Now, there’s only one thing left to ask: If surveys give statistical representations of the general public and 71 percent of Filipinos believe drug suspects should be caught alive, how come — err, passionate — netizens on social media cry otherwise?
