SWS: More than half of Pinoys believe drug war only kills poor

FILE: (Photo: Human Rights Watch)

More than half of Filipinos believe that only poor people are killed in President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown against illegal drugs, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed.

The Third Quarter 2017 of Social Weather Survey conducted from 23-27 found that 54 percent of Filipinos agreed with the statement, “Hindi pinapatay ang mga mayayaman na drug pusher; ang mga pinapatay ay ang mahihirap lamang [Rich drug pushers are not killed; only the poor ones are killed],” while 35 percent disagreed.

Meanwhile, 21 percent of Filipino adults remain undecided.

This resulted in a net agreement score of +29, classified as “moderately strong,” eight points below, and one grade down from “very strong” +37 in June 2017.

Although the net agreement that only poor drug pushers are killed was still highest in Metro Manila at “very strong” +49, it posted a 12-point decline and one-grade down from the “extremely strong” +61 in June 2017.

It stayed very strong in Balance Luzon, at +37 in September, up by 3 points from +34 in June.

It rose by one grade from “moderately strong” to “very strong” in the Visayas, at +31 in September, up by 10 points from +21 in June.

While in Mindanao, net agreement that only the poor drug pushers are killed was lowest at “neutral” -1, posting a 41-point decline, and two grades down, from the “very strong” +40 in June.

The non-commissioned  survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults from 18 years old and above nationwide — 600 in Balance Luzon and 300 each in Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao, with a sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.