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Mourners carry the coffin of 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz, who was accused of robbery and shot dead by police. Photo: Reuters

Half of Filipinos don’t believe police accounts of drug war deaths, survey shows

About half of Filipinos believe many people killed in the country’s war on drugs were neither drug dealers nor violently resisted arrest as police maintain, according to an opinion poll released on Wednesday.

The survey of 1,200 Filipinos by Social Weather Stations (SWS) conducted in late June also showed that 50 per cent of respondents felt many victims were falsely identified by their enemies as drug users and pushers, and then killed by police or shadowy vigilantes.

Thousands of mostly urban poor Filipinos have been killed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s 15-month-old war on drugs, either during police operations or by mysterious gunmen.

Police officers suspected of killing 17-year-old Kian delos Santos during a senate hearing on September 5, 2017. Photo: Reuters
The crackdown has come under unprecedented scrutiny in recent weeks, due largely to the high-profile August 16 killing of 17-year-old student Kian delos Santos, among the 90 people killed in less than a week of intensified police raids.
A masked witness points to the police officers suspected of killing 17-year-old Kian delos Santos as she testifies during the senate hearing on September 5, 2017. Photo: Reuters

The latest SWS poll was taken before those events. According to SWS, 49 per cent of respondents believed many of those killed by police were not drug dealers and 54 per cent felt many victims had not resisted arrest.

The survey suggests doubts among Filipinos about the official stance of the Philippine National Police, which states those killed in anti-drugs operations were dealers, and had refused to go quietly.

Police say that has been the case in more than 3,800 incidents in which deaths occurred.

The poll also indicates some scepticism about the methods and effectiveness of intelligence-gathering and community campaigns to identify drug users in need of rehabilitation, some of whom, activists say, have been killed after their names appeared on “watch lists”.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte meeting the parents and sister of Carl Angelo Arnaiz, who could have been a victim of murder and torture at the hands of police, according to the Public Attorney's Office. Photo: EPA

Duterte’s crackdown has caused international alarm, though domestic polls have shown Filipinos are largely supportive and believe it has made the streets safer.

Duterte’s office frequently cites polls, including SWS, as a sign of his public support.

But presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella cast doubts about the accuracy of the latest survey, saying it contained “leading and pointed questions that may have unduly influenced the answers”.

“We expect pollsters to exercise prudence and objectivity to arrive at a closer approximation of public sentiment,” he said in a statement.

Seminarians and nuns carry slogans and a mock coffin during a rally against the drugs war in Manila. Photo: AP

Activists accuse the PNP of executing drug suspects under the guise of sting operations, or of colluding with hit men to kill drug users, allegations the PNP strongly denies.

Duterte’s political opponents say he has made bellicose statements that incite police to commit murder, which he rejects, arguing that his instruction to security forces has always been to kill only when their lives were in danger.

Only a fifth of those polled by SWS disagreed with the statement that police had killed many people who had posed no threat to them. A quarter were undecided.

The survey showed 23 per cent of respondents believed those killed were drug pushers, as police say, and 27 per cent were undecided.

A banner protesting drug war deaths at De La Salle University in Manila. Photo: EPA

Half of those surveyed believed false accusations of drug involvement were behind many killings by police, while 21 per cent disagreed with that and 28 per cent were undecided.

The survey showed higher percentages of those polled in Manila, which has borne the brunt of the drugs killings, felt many victims had neither sold drugs nor fought police, and were being falsely linked to the trade.

Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the survey results were not surprising given the “critical mass of compelling evidence” gathered by his group and investigative journalists, which had clearly showed there was “an unlawful killing campaign under the cynical veneer of ‘anti-drugs operations’.”

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