SWS: Nearly half undecided on police claims of resistance

NEARLY HALF of Filipinos are undecided on the truthfulness of police claims of resistance (“nanlaban”) by drug suspects, according to a second-quarter survey by the Social Weather Stations.

The noncommissioned Second Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey showed 47% of respondents saying they are “undecided,” while 26% say the police are not telling the truth (13% definitely not telling the truth, 14% probably not telling the truth, correctly rounded), and 27% say police are telling the truth (17% probably telling the truth, 9% definitely telling the truth, correctly rounded).

The net opinion of the truthfulness of the police slightly improved to net zero, compared to the -1 in September 2017. It was at -20 when SWS first asked the question in December 2016.

The survey also showed that net truthfulness of the police’s nanlaban claims was lowest in Metro Manila at -25, followed by Balance Luzon at -6, Visayas at -4, and Mindanao at +31.

Some 96% of Filipino respondents maintained that drug suspects must be captured alive, a point higher than the 95% recorded in September 2017. Metro Manila was the most dominant with the said opinion, followed by Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the survey also added.

Meanwhile, some 86% said it was important for the police to capture drug suspects alive. This opinion was most expressed in Visayas, followed by Mindanao, Balance Luzon, and Metro Manila.

The June survey also noted that President Rodrigo R. Duterte received a net lower satisfaction rating among those who believe that the police claims were definitely untrue at +3, compared to the +77 net rating among those who believe the police are definitely telling the truth.

The same pattern was found among respondents when asked of their level of satisfaction with the administration in its campaign against illegal drugs. Those who do not believe the police had a +41 net satisfaction rating, while those who believed the police had +77.

The Second Quarter SWS survey was conducted on June 27-30 via face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide with sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.