Confessed drug users and pushers gather in Pampanga province during a recent mass surrender ceremony in line with the government’s anti-drug campaign. (TONETTE OREJAS/INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON)
President Rodrigo Duterte’s no-nonsense war on drugs has earned an “excellent” rating from Filipinos, who also believe that catching drug suspects alive is “very important,” a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey has shown.
The survey, conducted from Sept. 24 to 27, revealed that 84 percent of the respondents were satisfied with Duterte’s war against illegal drugs while 8 percent are dissatisfied and another 8 percent remained undecided.
The question asked was “Please tell me how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with the performance of government in its campaign against illegal drugs?”
The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide and with sampling error margins of ±3 points.
Respondents were also asked the question, “In the police’s fulfillment of their duty in the campaign against illegal drugs, in your opinion, how important is it that they arrest suspects allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade alive?”
At least 71 percent of the respondents, however, said it was “very important” that the drug suspects were caught alive. It added that 23 percent said it was somewhat important, 5 percent said it was somewhat not important and 2 percent said it was not important at all.
The survey showed that Duterte earned an “excellent” net satisfaction rating in across all areas and socioeconomic classes.
In Mindanao, the President got +87 while he got +76 in Visayas. In Luzon, he got a net satisfaction rating +71 net rating.
Across socioeconomic classes, Duterte’s crackdown on illegal drugs got +79 from class E, +79 among class A, B, C and +76 in class D.
The survey also found out that 83 percent of the respondents believed that the government’s fight against illegal drugs “does not discriminate by class.” At least 13 percent said it was centered on the poor and 4 percent said it was centered on the rich.
As of Oct. 2, 1,360 alleged drug personalities have been killed in police operations.