Palace plays down reduced support for war on drugs

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Wednesday said majority of Filipinos are still satisfied with the government's war against illegal drugs despite the dip in ratings.

 

Abella noted that satisfaction is still high despite the "negative criticisms" received by the administration locally and abroad.

 

"Filipinos understand and support the campaign against hard drug traffickers and violators," he said.

 

The spokesman also echoed the president's vow and said that the drive against illegal drugs would be "relentless" until the drug apparatus is rendered useless.

 

The latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from March 25 to 28 showed that 78 percent of Filipino adults are satisfied with the government's war on drugs while 12 percent are dissatisfied, yielding a net satisfaction of +66. This is an 11-point dip from the +77 rating in December 2016.

 

Meanwhile, 10 percent of Filipino adults are undecided.

 

READ: SWS: Pinoys rate drug war 'very good,' down from 'excellent'

 

Abella said the war on drugs is for the next generation of Filipinos.

 

He also noted that 70 percent of the Filipinos believe that the administration is serious about solving the problems in extrajudicial killings and cleansing the Philippine National Police of scalawags.

 

The survey showed, however, that 36 percent of respondents said they think the Duterte administration is somewhat serious in solving extrajudicial killing cases, while 5 percent said the government is "somewhat not serious," and 4 percent said it is not serious at all.

 

The survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide and has a sampling error of ± 3 percent.