SWS: 5 in 10 Filipinos approve mandatory drug tests in schools
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 9:56 a.m.) — The Social Weather Stations has released a survey on the previous proposal of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to conduct mandatory drug testing for Grade 4 students and up—a proposal that was already dropped by the agency two months before the poll.
Back in July, Education Secretary Leonor Briones met with PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino and Dangerous Drugs Board Chairman Catalino Cuy to discuss the proposal.
Briones stood firm on her position that grade school students should not be subjected to mandatory drug testing as mandated by the anti-illegal drugs law.
The poll released Wednesday evening found that 51 percent of Filipinos (31 percent strongly agree, 20 percent somewhat agree) agree with the proposal.
Meanwhile, 36 percent disagree (24 percent strongly disagree, 12 percent somewhat disagree) while 13 percent are undecided on the matter.
This yields a "moderately strong" net agreement of +15, according to the survey firm.
Net agreement was highest in the Visayas with a "very strong" +47, followed by Mindanao's "moderately strong" +25, Metro Manila's "moderately strong" +17 and balance Luzon's "neutral" -6.
64% of Filipinos satisfied with drug war
The survey also found that 76 percent of Filipinos are satisfied and 12 percent are dissatisfied with the administration's anti-illegal drugs campaign, yielding a net satisfaction rating of +64, which SWS classifies as "very good."
"This is 1 point below the very good +65 (78 percent satisfied, 13 percent dissatisfied) in June 2018, and is similar to the very good +64 (75 percent satisfied, 12 percent dissatisfied, correctly rounded) in March 2018," SWS said.
Net satisfaction rating on the administration's drug war was at its highest in December 2016 with an "excellent" +77. It reached its lowest rating in September 2017 with a "very good" +63.
SWS attributed the one-point drop in net satisfaction with the anti-illegal drug campaign in September to the decrease in support in Mindanao and Metro Manila.
Net satisfaction in Mindanao remains "excellent" with +70 despite the 14-point plunge from +84 in June.
In Metro Manila, net satisfaction on the drug campaign dropped from +67 in June to +55 in September, the lowest in the nation's capital since the survey was first fielded two years ago.
In balance Luzon, net satisfaction went up from +58 in June to +66 in September while the rating in the Visayas remained "very good" with +58.
The survey firm also noted that net satisfaction with the performance of President Rodrigo Duterte was higher among those satisfied with the campaign against illegal drugs, with a rating of +67, compared to +31 among those undecided and -4 among those dissatisfied with the campaign.
The survey was conducted from September 15 to 23 using face-to-face interviews among 1,500 adults nationwide with a sampling error margin of ±3 percent for national percentages and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
"The quarterly Social Weather Surveys on public satisfaction with the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs are not commissioned. They are done on SWS's own initiative and released as a public service," the SWS said.
Reuters wins Pulitzers, the most prestigious awards in American journalism, in international reporting for its story on the methods of police killing squads in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs and for feature photography documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
In covering the deadly drug war in the Philippines, Reuters reporters Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato "demonstrated how police in the president’s 'drug war' have killed with impunity and consistently been shielded from prosecution," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler says.
Sen. Francis Tolentino says he has agreed to serve as legal counsel for Sen. Bato dela Rosa before the International Criminal Court. — Xave Gregorio
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The Commission on Human Rights welcomes the verdict of a Caloocan court that convicted police officer Jeffrey Perez of torture and planting of evidence in the killings of teenagers Carl Arnaiz and Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.
"The Commission hopes that more cases similar to Carl and Kulot will reach the courts," the government agency says in a statement.
"We hope that more eye witnesses will step forth and feel encouraged to help progress the thousands of drug-related killings still pending investigations and trials," it adds.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' work on the Philippines "is far from done" as victims of the bloody "war on drugs" continue to seek accountability and justice, the Human Rights Watch says.
"The Human Rights Council should adopt OHCHR’s recommendation that the high commissioner’s office continue to monitor and regularly report on the country’s rights situation," Carlos Conde, the senior researcher for Asia Division of the HRW, says in a statement.
"There’s no short-term solution to making real progress on accountability and providing justice for people in the Philippines," he adds.
Gabriela Women's Party supports the request of International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan to resume probe on President Duterte's drug war killings. — The STAR/Sheila Crisostomo
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