SWS: Fewer Pinoys believe drug war targets the poor

Slightly fewer Filipinos nowadays believe in the notion that only poor people are killed in the

government’s anti-illegal drug campaign, results of a third quarter Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

In the non-commissioned survey conducted from September 23 to 27 with 1,500 respondents nationwide, the statement “rich drug pushers are not killed; only the poor ones are killed” received a net agreement score (percent agree minus percent disagree) of +29, classified by SWS as “moderately strong.”

The score was tallied from the 54 percent of respondents who agreed (31 percent strongly agree, 23 percent somewhat agree) minus the 25 percent who disagreed (12 percent somewhat disagree, 13 percent strongly disagree).

The latest net score is eight percentage points below and one grade down from the “very strong” +37 (60 percent agree, 23 percent disagree) rating last June on the same survey topic.

SWS defines net agreement of +50 and above as “extremely strong;” +30 to +49, “very strong;” +10 to +29, “moderately strong;” +9 to –9, “neutral;” -10 to -29, “moderately weak;” -30 to -49, “very weak;” and -50 and below, “extremely weak.”

The independent pollster noted that the net agreement that only poor drug pushers are killed remained highest in Metro Manila at +49 (70 percent agree, 21 percent disagree).

This, despite the12 percentage point decline and one grade decrease from the +61 (75 percent agree, 14 percent disagree) score posted in June.

More believe in ‘nanlaban’

It can also be inferred from the same SWS survey results that more Filipinos are now buying police claims that those killed in anti-drug operations are ones who fight back, or “nanlaban.”

The statement, “many of those killed by the police in the anti-drug campaign did not really fight against the police” received a net agreement score of +27 (50 percent agree, 23 percent disagree) or “moderately strong.”

This is seven percentage points below, and one grade down, from the “very strong” +34 rating (54 percent agree, 20 percent disagree) in June.

Meanwhile, 26 percent of the September survey respondents were undecided on the matter.

Net agreement that many of those killed in the government’s anti-drug war did not really resist cops was highest in Metro Manila at +49 (66 percent agree, 17 percent disagree) as per the third quarter poll.

This is a three percentage point increase from the +46 (63 percent agree, 18 percent disagree) score in the second quarter.

Additionally, 45 percent (18 percent strongly agree, 27 percent somewhat disagree) of Filipinos agree that many of those killed in the anti-drug campaign were not really drug dealers.

Some 28 percent disagreed (16 percent somewhat disagree, 13 percent strongly disagree) with this, while 26 percent were undecided.

This translates to a net agreement score of +17 or “moderately strong,” down by nine percentage points from the similarly “moderately strong” score of +26 (49 percent agree, 23 percent disagree) in June.

Net agreement that many of those killed in the anti-drug campaign were not really drug dealers was highest in Metro Manila at +24 (54 percent agree, 30 percent disagree). Last June, a higher net agreement of +36 (58 percent agree, 21 percent disagree) was recorded in the metropolis.