Most Pinoys worry of becoming an EJK victim

MANILA - Nine out of 10 Filipinos want drug suspects to be arrested alive, a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

Of the 90 percent, 68 percent said it is "very important" to arrest drug suspects alive, while 22 percent said it is "somewhat important."

By area, results of the survey revealed more people in Metro Manila want drug suspects caught alive with 95 percent, followed by Visayas and Balance Luzon at 90 percent, and Mindanao at 86 percent.

Support for the apprehension of drug suspects alive declined to 90 percent in June from 92 percent in March.

The results were the latest that SWS released in a series of surveys concerning the anti-drug campaign.

Another SWS survey showed that 63 percent of Filipinos believe that some drug suspects were killed even after they surrendered themselves to authorities.

• READ: Most Pinoys believe drug suspects still killed even after surrender—SWS

Meanwhile, 73 percent of Filipinos still worry that they or anyone they know will be a victim of extrajudicial killings (EJKs).

Forty-one percent said they are "very worried" while 32 percent said they are "somewhat worried," 13 percent answered they are "not too worried" and 14 percent said they are "not worried at all."

Visayas had the highest proportion of respondents that worry they will be a victim of EJK with 77 percent, then Mindanao at 75 percent, Metro Manila at 73 percent and Balanced Luzon at 70 percent.

The number of Filipinos who believe the government is serious about solving EJKs in the country declined to 63 percent in June from 70 percent in March.

Of the 63 percent, 33 percent said they believe the government is "very serious" in solving the EJK problem, 30 percent said it is "somewhat serious," 23 percent were undecided, 9 percent said it is "somewhat not serious" and 5 percent said it is "not serious at all."

Most respondents in Visayas at 68 percent believe the government is serious, followed by Balance Luzon at 64 percent, Metro Manila at 62 percent, and Mindanao at 59 percent.

The survey was conducted by SWS from June 23 to 26 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults aged 18 and above nationwide.

SWS surveyed 300 adults each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

It had sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.