Filipinos trust police, feel safe in their neighborhoods, says survey

Many Filipinos feel safe in their neighborhoods and have complete confidence in the local police force, a survey released late last month showed.

The Gallup 2020 Global Law and Order Report asked residents in 144 countries and territories the following questions:

• “In the city or area where you live, do you have confidence in the local police force?”
• “Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?”
• “Within the last 12 months, have you had money or property stolen from you or another household member?”
• “Within the past 12 months, have you been assaulted or mugged?”

Most Filipinos said they feel safe in their communities, earning the Philippines a score of 84  in the survey. However, this is a far cry from Singapore and Turkmenistan, both of which emerged on top with an index score of 97. They were followed by China (94), Iceland and Kuwait (93); Austria, Norway, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan (92); and Azerbaijan and Tajikistan (91).

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Of all countries surveyed, it is in Afghanistan where people feel least safe. Only 12% of Afghans surveyed said they feel safe walking home alone at night.

Almost seven out of 10 people worldwide said they feel safe walking alone at night in their communities (69%) and have expressed confidence in their local police (69%). One in eight or 12% said their or their family’s properties had been stolen from them in the past year, and 6% of respondents said they were mugged.

East Asia appeared the safest region in the world to live in, earning a score of 92. This was followed by Western Europe (86), Southeast Asia, the United States, and Canada (85); and the Middle East and North Africa (81).

Gallup said the margin of sampling error ranged from ±2.1 percentage points to ±5.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

Read: ‘Devoid of truth,’ Philippine police say of drug war rapes, torture, abuses reported by ICC

The Philippine National Police has been waging a bloody drug war since 2016, which has killed thousands of drug suspects. The police said they were killed in raids because they fought back (“nanlaban”), but the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported in June that cops habitually plant guns on drug suspects’ bodies, as well as methamphetamine. In one example, the organization found that “that the police repeatedly recovered guns bearing the same serial numbers from different victims in different locations.”