Drug war to continue despite drop in Duterte ratings, says Palace

MANILA, Philippines — The government's ferocious war on drugs would still continue despite double-digit plunges in President Rodrigo Duterte's ratings widely believed to have been spawned by the brutal conduct of the campaign.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that the government is continuously "recalibrating" its anti-drug campaign but the overall effort to destroy narcotics in the country would remain.

"You know, there is a continual recalibration of the way the operations are handled. The president is very sensitive to all of these things," Abella said.

"However, there will be no changes in the sense that the efforts will continue to make sure that the drug apparatus will be dismantled," the president's spokesperson added.

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The president's spokesman also defended the government from insinuations that the decrease in satisfaction and trust ratings was because of the failure of its campaign against illegal drugs.

"I think it’s a question of being able to manage everything. It’s not a failure of one. It is a whole system approach," he said, adding that the government would continue to make sure that it would deliver on Duterte's campaign promises last year.

He, however, conceded that the string of killings of teenagers during police operations might have affected the results of the SWS September survey, noting that it was conducted just days after a national day of protest where huge demonstrations were mounted nationwide against drug-connected deaths.

"The surveys were done just within days of the National Day of Protest. And during that time, people were giving full vent with whatever feelings that they had," Abella said.

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Abella said the government would continue with programs that would address the needs of the poorer segments of the population, noting that the steepest declines in Duterte's trust and satisfaction ratings came from Classes D and E.

He added that these were the members of the population who were easily affected by any problems in the government's delivery of services.

"Basically what we’re saying is that this is the whole of government approach and that it would be really key if all branches of government were able to cooperate and so that we can deliver on the needs of the people and not just our self-interest," he said in a press briefing in the Palace.

The presidential spokesman explained that the drops in ratings were not because the poor felt that they were being targeted by the president's relentless campaign against illegal drugs which has so far claimed thousands of lives mostly from urban poor communities.

Abella explained that the declines were because Filipinos were already assessing their expectations of the president against what they were seeing and feeling.

"You know, the people are still expecting that rise, that the economic shift that will put more food on the table. It’s basically a lot — a matter of expectation," Abella answered when asked if the latest survey results were related to the impression that the drug war was targeting the poor.

Based on the results of the September SWS survey, the president saw a huge drop in the number of people satisfied with his performance.

From the 66 percent net rating he got in June, this fell to 48 percent in September, with 67 percent of those surveyed satisfied while 19 percent dissatisfied with the chief executive. This was classified by the survey firm as "good."

It was in the Visayas where Duterte saw the largest decline. His rating there fell by 30 percent while his Luzon rating dropped by 22 points. His Metro Manila rating dove by 19 points.

Mindanao, Duterte's home region, was steady in its support for the president at 76 percent.

The president's ratings also dropped among Classes D and E or those from poorer segments of the society.

Human rights groups and advocates claim that at least 12,000 people have been killed since the unrelenting drug war was started last year.

The government, however, provided a much lower figure of drug-related killings. It says that many of the deaths are still under investigation, but no suspect has been prosecuted so far.