OCTA: 59% of Filipinos back PH rejoining ICC

NEARLY six out of 10 Filipinos are in favor of rejoining the International Criminal Court (ICC) and are urging the government to cooperate in the tribunal’s investigation of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, an OCTA Research survey released on Sunday showed.

In the “Tugon ng Masa” survey held from Dec. 10 to 14, 2023, 59 percent of the respondents said they were in favor of the Philippines rejoining the ICC, while 41 percent were not.

OCTA said the respondents were provided an explanatory card with the basic definition of the International Criminal Court and its functions to inform all of its respondents regarding the question.

Respondents in Luzon were the “most in favor” (65 percent) of the Philippines returning to the ICC, followed by Mindanao, 51 percent.

Conversely, 49 percent of Mindanao respondents said they were not in favor of the Philippines returning to the ICC, followed by 35 percent in Balance Luzon.

Socioeconomic class ABC support for the Philippines’ return to ICC was at 67 percent, while support from those belonging to Class D was at 42 percent.

Divided by region, Northern Mindanao respondents had the highest support at 92 percent, while the Davao Region had the lowest at 10 percent.

On the question of whether the government should cooperate with the ICC in the investigation of the drug war, 55 percent said they were in favor, while 45 percent said they did not want the government to cooperate.

Balance Luzon respondents had the highest support for cooperation at 65 percent, while Mindanao had the lowest at 42 percent.

The survey had 1,200 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.