PNP lauds admin's 'war on drugs' after high public satisfaction

Manila--The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Sunday lauded the administration's war on drugs campaign after receiving a high rating of public satisfaction on the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

The survey polled on the last quarter of December 2018 showed 66 percent of the majority of Filipinos believe that the number of drug users in their communities decreased.

"The high rating obtained proves that the continuing anti-illegal drugs campaign of the government is effective in convincing drug dependents to refrain from further using illegal drugs, and instrumental in reducing the total number of crimes nationwide thereby, creating a secure environment where people feel safe to live, work and do business," PNP Spokesperson Senior Supt. Bernard Banac quoted in a statement.

Furthermore, the survey result also found out that 95 percent or almost all the respondents believed that it was substantial for drug suspects to be captured alive.

"The PNP assures the public that we will continue to perform our mandate within the bounds of the law and with utmost respect for human rights." Banac said.

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo was also glad on the results of the December survey.

Salvador said the results were a confirmation of the success of the campaign despite some criticisms.

He also urged government critics and opposers to “stop playing blind dumb” and learn the fact that many Filipinos believe that there are fewer drug users now.

“They remain skeptical, unimpressed and indifferent of the significant strides made by our authorities in relation to prohibited narcotics even pointing out there remains demand and supply on illegal drugs. We ask them to stop playing blind dumb and instead listen to the people,” Panelo said.

Widespread criticism has been drawn during the succeeding action of the government on the war against drugs where there were alleged state-sponsored killings, which the government denied.

Despite that, public's favor still ran high in the latest survey results where it was mostly "similar" in June 2018 rating satisfaction in accordance to SWS.

In a released statement of SWS, as of 1,200 adults polled in late June, 78 percent said they were satisfied with the campaign, 13 percent said otherwise and 19 were undecided.

Following the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, public satisfaction was at an excellent +76 when it was first surveyed in September 2016. It was highest in December 2017 at an excellent +77, said SWS.

In a data showed by the ABS-CBN Investigative & Research Group, there were at least 5,317 alleged drug suspects have been killed from the time the administration's anti-illegal drugs campaign began on July 1, 2016 until December 18, 2018.

During operations conducted by law enforcement agencies including PNP and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the data showed that six out of every 10 victims were killed in the operations.