6 of 10 Filipinos believe some drug suspects were killed by cops after surrendering

Six out of 10 Filipinos believed that some drug suspects had already surrendered but were still killed by police.

This was among the findings of a noncommissioned survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from June 23 to 26 among 1,200 adults nationwide. The results released on Friday showed that majority of survey respondents were skeptical about “Oplan Tokhang,” the anti-illegal drug operation of the Philippine National Police.

The survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, also found that 17 percent of respondents said they know of someone who was falsely summoned for an Oplan Tokhang investigation.

Metro Manila respondents registered a 75-percent agreement to the statement that some suspects were still killed despite their having surrendered (41 percent strongly agree, 34 percent somewhat agree). Mindanao respondents were a close second at 63 percent (35 percent strongly agree, 28 percent somewhat agree).

Pointed to enemies

Of the 17 percent of respondents who said they know someone summoned for Oplan Tokhang despite their not being a drug pusher, 22 percent were from Metro Manila.

Fifty percent of the respondents believed that police intelligence sources had lied in identifying drug suspects and had pointed to their enemies, knowing that these “suspects” could be killed by the police.

On Thursday, the SWS released results from the same survey which showed that 54 percent of Filipinos believed that those killed in President Duterte’s war on drugs did not resist the police, contrary to PNP claims.

Forty-nine percent of respondents said the victims were not drug pushers.

The SWS conducted the survey two months before 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos was killed by Caloocan City police officers who claimed that he had fired at them.

The killing of Delos Santos, who was among the 90 people killed in less than a week of intensified drug-related police raids, sparked widespread condemnation after CCTV footage showed the police dragging the boy toward a dead-end street where he was later found shot to death.

Disbelief over the official police line that the suspects had fought back and had to be shot dead was more pronounced in Metro Manila at 63 percent, and among economic Class E, at 58 percent.

Most of the reported killings in the war on drugs happened in Metro Manila, with critics pointing out that most of the victims were poor.

The PNP, which on Thursday came up with statistics on homicide cases nationwide to show that only a small fraction of these was drug-related, said on Friday that it would use the survey as a challenge for the police “to deliver … true and complete information” (on its anti-illegal drugs operation).

Challenge to PNP

“The PNP respects the survey and the responses of the public based on the existing perception at the time when the survey was conducted,”  PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos said in a statement.

“(The survey) will serve as a challenge for the PNP to deliver the facts and the true and complete information,” he added.

Carlos said that based on PNP records on “Project Double Barrel” and homicide cases under investigation, only 6,140 drug personalities died from July 2016 to Sept. 15 this year.

Of this number, 2,290 were drug-related homicides while 3,850 were those of drug personalities killed in Project Double Barrel operations. The number included the cases of 85 policemen and three soldiers killed in action.

“Where are the 13,000 EJK (extrajudicial killing) victims in the current campaign against drugs? This figure is constantly and repeatedly being cited by groups and individuals critical (of) the government,” Carlos said.

The PNP had earlier cited police data showing that from July last year to Sept. 16 this year, only 3,850 drug personalities had been killed in police operations. The rest, according to police, were considered deaths under investigation. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH