SWS: Most Filipinos believe not all summoned for Oplan Tokhang are addicts, pushers

Makati City residents compelled to see the police under Oplan Tokhang are made to take the “Oath of Reformation” in this file photo. INQUIRER

Nearly half of the Filipinos surveyed by the Social Weather Station (SWS) believe that not all of the people summoned by the Philippine National Police (PNP) during the implementation of Oplan Tokhang were illegal drug users and peddlers.

This was the result of the latest survey conducted by the SWS that was published on Saturday by its media partner BusinessWorld.

The third quarter SWS survey covering 1,500 adults nationwide disclosed that 49 percent of them believe that none or not all of those called up by the police were involved in drugs.

The respondents’ criteria in this survey include that they should have personal knowledge of someone who had been summoned by the police in relation to the PNP’s implementation of Oplan Tokhang.

This percentage was followed by 36 percent of people who believe those called up were involved in illegal drugs, while 14 percent said they do not know, and 2 percent said none were involved in illegal drugs.

The survey conducted on September 23 to 27 had face-to-face interviews of the respondents nationwide – 600 in Balance Luzon and 300 each in Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.

It has a sampling error margin of plus-minus 3 percent for national percentages, plus-minus 4 percent for Balance Luzon, and plus-minus 6 percent for the rest of the areas.

Personal knowledge of anyone summoned for Oplan Tokhang was highest in Metro Manila at 31 percent, followed by Balance Luzon and Mindanao at 25 percent, and Visayas at 22 percent.

The proportion of those who believe that not all of the persons summoned for “Oplan Tokhang” are drug addicts and pushers was highest in Metro Manila at 50 percent and lowest in Mindanao at 41 percent.

“Net satisfaction with the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, President Rodrigo Duterte, and the overall national administration tend to be lower among those who say not all of the persons summoned in ‘Oplan Tokhang’ are drug addicts and pushers,” the SWS noted. /jpv

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