By: Ellalyn V. Ruiz
Five out of 10 Filipinos agreed that the death of innocent people cannot be avoided in the course of the government’s fight against illegal drugs, a Social Weather Stations survey has found out.
The nationwide survey conducted from Sept. 23 to 27 with 1,500 respondents found out that 46 percent of Filipinos agreed (21 percent strongly agree, 24 percent somewhat agree), 35 percent disagreed (15 percent somewhat disagree, 20 percent strongly disagree), and 19 percent are undecided on the statement, “It cannot be avoided that there are innocent citizens who will die in order to completely eradicate the illegal drug problem in the country.”
This gives a net agreement score (percentage agree minus percentage disagree) of +10, classified by the SWS as “moderately strong.”
SWS defines terminology for net agreement as +50 and above, “extremely strong;” +30 to +49, “very strong;” +10 to +29, “moderately strong;” +9 to -9, “neutral;” -10 to -29, “moderately weak;” -30 to -49, “very weak;” and -50 and below, “extremely weak.”
The net agreement that innocent casualties cannot be avoided in the drug war was highest in Visayas at +21 (50 percent agree, 30 percent disagree), followed by Metro Manila at +18 (54 percent agree, 36 percent disagree), rest of Luzon at +9 (44 percent agree, 36 percent disagree), and Mindanao at +1 (39 percent agree, 38 percent disagree).