A new survey conducted by a local pollster shows that a majority of respondents believe that Filipino cops are involved in extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and the illegal drug trade.
The survey was conducted by the Social Weather Stations and published last night on their official website.
The survey shows that the majority believe that the police are involved in the summary killings of drug suspects. Commonly known as “EJKs,” these refer to the execution of suspects by the police, without giving them the benefit of a fair trial.
The Commission on Human Rights estimated that more than 27,000 drug suspects have been killed by the police since President Rodrigo Duterte launched his drug war in 2016, with many suspects believed to have been victims of EJKs.
However, the Philippine National Police (PNP) often say that suspects were killed during drug operations because they fought back (“nanlaban”).
A previous SWS showed that 95 percent of respondents believe that drug suspects have to be captured alive.
According to the latest SWS’ survey, 66 percent of Filipinos believe that the PNP is involved in EJKs, with 28 percent saying it’s definitely true and 38 percent saying it’s probably true.
On the other hand, 28 percent are undecided and 5 percent don’t believe that they are.
However, it appears that respondents are almost evenly split on whether they should believe the PNP’s claims that many of those drug suspects were killed because they fought back.
28 percent said the PNP is lying when it says a suspect fought back, with 12 percent saying they are definitely not telling the truth and 16 percent saying they are probably not telling the truth.
However, 27 percent of respondents believe that the cops are telling the truth, with 10 percent saying they are definitely saying the truth and 17 percent saying they are probably telling the truth.
44 percent are not sure whether the police are lying or not.
Meanwhile, 68 percent of the respondents believe that the cops themselves are involved in the illegal drug trade, with 29 percent saying it’s definitely true while 39 percent saying it’s probably true.
26 percent are undecided while 2 percent believe that they are not involved.
Majority of the respondents also believe that PNP’s members plant evidence to frame drug suspects. 57 percent believe this is true, with 22 percent saying it’s definitely true while 35 percent saying it’s probably true.
33 percent are undecided, while 8 percent don’t believe it’s true.
The results were based on face-to-face interviews with 1,440 respondents aged 18 years old and above. The interviews were conducted in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao from Dec. 16 to 19 in 2018.
This comes just a week after Duterte promised that the drug war will be harsher in the coming days because he doesn’t want the Philippines to become a failed state.
