Hontiveros: Dip in satisfaction with drug war a ‘slap in the face of EJK deniers’

The 11-point drop in the public net satisfaction rating for the government’s war on drugs was “a slap in the face for EJK (extrajudicial killing) deniers,” Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Wednesday.

Hontiveros was referring to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing that from 77 percent in December last year, the public net satisfaction rating on the war on drugs dropped to 66 percent in March this year.

READ: SWS: Public satisfaction with war on drugs falls

The senator said the government’s war on drugs might have had massive popular support at the start, “but inevitably it has turned into a national nightmare.”

“As long as the government’s anti-drug campaign continues to create a climate of fear, impunity and killing, this war is a losing battle with less and less supporters,” she said.

“The SWS survey is also slap in the face for EJK deniers,” said Hontiveros, a member of the Senate minority bloc.

“For a second consecutive time, the majority or 73 percent of Filipinos are worried that they or someone they know would become victims of extrajudicial killings. The fear is real. EJKs are a reality.”

“The government’s attempt to massage its original data and/or reintroduce new and questionable data on the killings attributed to the drug war cannot hide this fact,” she further said.

READ: Duterte can’t use influence to justify killings—opposition solons

Hontiveros said the country is now farther away from the order and security that President Rodrigo Duterte had promised during the campaign.

“Our people are living in fear, among the ghosts of the drug war victims, without any semblance of justice in sight,” she said.

“It’s time for the public to wake up from this national nightmare and set things right by holding all those responsible for these killings accountable alongside the implementation of a public health agenda on the anti-drugs campaign,” the senator added. IDL

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