Most Pinoys back drug war, say EJKs happen

At least eight out of 10 Filipinos remained supportive of President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs, while seven out of 10 were convinced that extrajudicial killings (EJKs) happen, pollster Pulse Asia said in its latest survey.

The Sept. 24 to 30 poll found that public awareness of Duterte’s brutal crackdown on narcotics trade is “virtually universal” at 100 percent, with 88 percent of the 1,200 respondents expressing support.

Only two percent opposed the President’s approach in stamping out illegal drugs while nine percent could not say if they support or do not support the war on illegal drugs and less than one percent were ambivalent on the matter.

The survey also showed that 73 percent believed there were EJKs in the course of Duterte’s implementation of bloody drug war. The poll result was six-percentage points higher than June’s 67 percent.

Only 20 percent were convinced that EJKs did not occur, while seven percent refused to answer the question.

Pulse Asia described EJK as “killings done by people in authority such as the police or soldiers that do not follow the rule of law.” Public perception about the existence of summary executions of alleged drug suspects rose in Manila ( 79 percent from June’s 67 percent), Luzon (75 percent from 72 percent), and Mindanao (67 percent from 50 percent).

Ninety-four percent of respondents in Duterte’s bailiwick in Mindanao were supportive of his drug war. The Chief Executive likewise earned the support of 88 percent respondents in Luzon, 85 percent in Visayas, and 84 percent in Manila.

Support for the fight against narcotics were also high in Class D (89 percent), Class E (88 percent), and Class ABC (80 percent).

Around 1,200 adult Filipinos were interviewed by Pulse Asia using an error margin of ±3 percentage points at the 95 percent level.

Subnational estimates for each of Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao have a ±6 percentage points error margin at 95 percent confidence level.