Deaths of innocents unavoidable in drug war — survey

MANILA, Philippines — Almost half of Filipinos agree that deaths of innocent civilians are unavoidable in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, according to a recent survey conduct by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey showed that 46 percent of respondents agree with the statement, “It cannot be avoided that there are innocent citizens who will die in order to completely eradicate the illegal drug problem.”

Another 35 percent disagreed, while the remaining 19 percent were undecided.

The survey was conducted from Sept. 23 to 27, with the results released on Wednesday night. It had 1,500 respondents and an error margin of +/ three percent for national percentages.

In the same survey, the SWS also found that 49 percent of Filipinos believe that the government has people who secretly observe and report users and sellers of illegal drugs in their communities.

Nineteen percent of the respondents disagreed, while 31 percent were undecided.

The SWS included various test questions on the government’s campaign against illegal drugs in its third quarter survey.

Other questions cover issues such as giving cash reward to cops for every suspect killed (65 percent disagree, 15 percent agree), killings only cover poor suspects (54 percent agree, 25 disagree) and the importance of capturing suspects alive (95 percent agree, five percent disagree).

The latest survey showed that 77 percent of Filipinos are satisfied with the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, while 14 percent were dissatisfied.