Majority of Filipinos believe cops are involved in illegal drugs – survey
Majority of Filipinos believe policemen are involved in illegal drug trade, extra-judicial killings, and planting of evidence against suspected drug traders, results of the recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.
Reacting to the survey result, Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the government has “zero tolerance” for policemen involved in abuse and illegal activities. He said the government would continue to rid the police ranks of these “rotten eggs.”
“Just like in any organization, the Palace is aware that there
are rotten eggs that tend to destroy the integrity of the great institution, that is the Philippine National Police,” Panelo said.
“As PRRD himself said, ‘there will be hell to pay if you become worse than criminals.’ Such actions show that we in the Administration are intolerant with any kind of abuse coming from those whose duty is to serve and protect the Filipino people,” Panelo added.
In the survey conducted from December 16 to 19, 2018 among 1,440 adult Filipinos, SWS found that majority believe that accusations against policemen are true.
When respondents were asked if it is true that policemen are involved in the illegal drug trade, 68 percent said it is definitely or probably true, 26 percent were undecided, and 5 percent said it is definitely or probably not true.
The belief in the accusation that policemen are involved in the illegal drug trade was highest in Metro Manila at 75 percent, followed by the rest of Luzon at 68 percent, Mindanao at 67 percent, and Visayas at 66 percent. It was 71 percent in urban areas compared to 66 percent in in rural areas at 66 percent.
When asked if accusations that policemen are involved in the extra-judicial killing of illegal drug trade suspects are true, 66 percent of Filipinos said it is definitely or probably true, 28 percent were undecided, and 5 percent said it is definitely or probably not true.
The belief in the accusation that policemen are involved in the extrajudicial killing of illegal drug trade suspects was highest in Metro Manila at 72 percent, followed by the rest of Luzon at 67 percent, and Visayas and Mindanao at 63 percent each. It was higher among those in urban areas at 69 percent, compared to those in rural areas at 64 percent.
Meanwhile, when asked if accusations that policemen often plant evidence against suspects they arrest are true, 58 percent of Filipinos said it is definitely or probably true, 33 percent were undecided, and 9 percent said it is definitely or probably not true.
The belief in the accusation that policemen are involved in the planting of evidence against suspects was highest in Metro Manila and rest of Luzon at 59 percent each, followed by Visayas at 56 percent, and Mindanao at 55 percent. It was higher among those in urban areas at 61 percent compared to those in rural areas at 55 percent.
In the same survey period, SWS found that 28 percent of Filipinos said the police are not telling the truth about their claims that killed drug suspects fought back or “nanlaban” (16 percent definitely not telling the truth, 12 percent probably not telling the truth), compared to the 28 percent who said the police are telling the truth (10 percent definitely telling the truth, 17 percent probably telling the truth).
Meanwhile, 44 percent were undecided about the issue.
This translates to a net opinion about truthfulness (percent definitely/probably telling the truth minus percent probably/ definitely not telling the truth) of the police to net zero in December, 2018, similar to the zero in June, 2018 and the -1 when first asked in December, 2016.
Net opinion about the truthfulness of the police’s “fought back” claims was lowest in Metro Manila at -11 (23 percent definitely/probably telling the truth, 34 percent probably/definitely not telling the truth), followed by the rest of Luzon at -3 (26 percent definitely/probably telling the truth, 29 percent probably/definitely not telling the truth, correctly rounded), the Visayas at +3 (30 percent definitely/probably telling the truth, 27 percent probably/ definitely not telling the truth), and Mindanao at +11 (34 percent definitely/probably telling the truth, 22 percent probably/ definitely not telling the truth).
Furthermore, the December, 2018 survey found that net satisfaction (percent satisfied minus percent dissatisfied) with the performance of President Duterte was an excellent +78 among those who believe the police are telling the truth (percent definitely telling the truth plus percent probably telling the truth) about suspects who allegedly fought back, compared to the very good +61 among those are undecided, and the good +39 among those who believe they are not telling the truth (percent definitely not telling the truth plus percent probably not telling the truth).
Findings on people's satisfaction with the performance of President Duterte in the last quarter of 2018 were first reported on Dec. 28.
Panelo said measures are being taken to clean up the police ranks and run after those involved in illegal activities, according to Panelo.
“While there is no denying that there are erring policemen within their ranks, the PNP has done internal cleansing efforts such as the activation of the Counter-Intelligence Task Force (CITF) tasked to go after policemen involved in unlawful activities,” he said.
“We have also been witnesses to this zero tolerance against police misfits when the cop killers of Kian de los Santos were convicted and the entire Caloocan police force was relieved,” he added.