Survey says majority of Filipinos believe gov’t should allow UN, other int’l groups to investigate drug war

Filipino cops at a crime scene. Photo: Fernando Sepe Jr./ABS-CBN News
Filipino cops at a crime scene. Photo: Fernando Sepe Jr./ABS-CBN News

A new survey has revealed that most Filipinos believe the Philippine government should allow international organizations, such as the United Nations, to investigate the deaths of thousands of drug suspects in President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war.

The survey was conducted by local pollster Social Weather Stations from June 22 to 26 and was released yesterday.

Photo: Social Weather Stations webpage
Photo: Social Weather Stations webpage

In the survey, 60 percent of Filipinos agreed with the statement “The government should not block the investigation of international groups, like the United Nations, into the killing by the Philippine police of so many drug suspects who supposedly fought back.”

The percentage of those who agreed was composed of 26 percent who “strongly agree” and 34 percent “somewhat agree.”

On the other hand, 7 percent strongly disagreed with the statement, 8 percent somewhat disagreed, and 25 percent were undecided.

READ: Former Duterte spokesman Harry Roque belittles UNHRC drug war resolution, calls international body ‘toothless tiger’

Based on these numbers, SWS computed a net agreement score of +45, which it classified as “very strong.” The survey also showed that the net agreement score in Mindanao was the highest at +50, followed by Luzon at +45, Metro Manila at +43, and the Visayas at +42.

The net agreement score was highest among members of class D at +46. International human rights group Amnesty International reported early this month that many of those killed in the government’s anti-drug operations live in poor communities.

Based on age groups, the net agreement score was highest among 35 to 44-year-olds with a score of +52 and 18 to 24-year-olds which had +50.

READ: Government official threatens VP Leni Robredo with impeachment for supporting UNHRC investigation on drug war

The net agreement score in the SWS survey was highest among high school graduates (+52), followed by college graduates (+46), elementary graduates (+40), and non-elementary graduates (+36).

The results are based on face-to-face interviews with 1,200 Filipino adults, with 300 respondents each from Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said that 6,600 drug suspects have been killed in the drug war from June 2016 to May 2019 but this number has often been disputed with the Commission on Human Rights saying in December that the number could be as high as 27,000.

According to the PNP, many of those drug suspects killed during anti-drug operations fought back (“nanlaban” in Filipino), but that is not always the case.

One such example is 17-year-old Kian de los Santos who was killed by Caloocan policemen during an anti-drug operation in 2017. CCTV footage from the crime scene showed the cops dragging an unarmed de los Santos across a basketball court and into a dark alley. A witness heard de los Santos begging for his life before he was shot by the cops.

The survey comes more than a week after the United Nations Human Rights Council asked for a comprehensive written report on Duterte’s drug war based on a resolution filed by Iceland. Duterte’s allies have slammed the resolution and said it was an intrusion into the Philippines’ domestic affairs. Duterte spokesman, Salvador Panelo, also said that Iceland’s resolution was “grotesquely one-sided” and that the president is seriously considering cutting off diplomatic ties with the Nordic country.

At present, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is conducting a preliminary investigation into Duterte’s drug war, despite the president’s unilateral decision to withdraw the Philippines from the organization in March. The government threatened to block or deport ICC investigators if they ever come to the Philippines.



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