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Nearly half of Pinoys believe drug use punishable by death —SWS survey


Nearly 50 percent of Filipinos believe that drug use is punishable by death, said a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted amid the government's deadly war on drugs.

The survey conducted from June 23 to 26 this year, released on Tuesday, said 47 percent of Filipinos believe drug use is punishable by death and 53 percent "correctly responded that it is not true."

The SWS said the survey had 1,200 adult respondents, 300 each from Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

It has sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, ±6% each for each areas.

 


The SWS said respondents from Mindanao and Visayas have "higher belief" that a drug user can be meted the death penalty.

Majority of respondents from Metro Manila or 61 percent, meanwhile, responded correctly to the survey question: “Sa pagkakaalam ninyo, totoo ba o hindi totoo na ang paggamit ng ilegal na droga ay krimeng maaaring parusahan ng kamatayan? (“As far as you know, is it TRUE or NOT TRUE that using banned drugs is a crime punishable by death?”)

Death is the most severe penalty cited in Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, signed in 2002 or before the abolition of death penalty.

Section 11 of RA 9165 says possession of 10 grams of more of opium, morphine, heroin, cocaine, shabu, marijuana resin and 500 grams of marijuana is punishable by "life imprisonment to death" and a fine ranging from P500,000 to P10 million.

Possesion of five grams or more but less than 10 grams is pusnishable by 20 years to life imprisonment and possession of five grams of less is punishable by 12 years to 20 years dangerous drugs.

The punishment of death could not be carried out because it had been abolished in 2006 during the time of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, or four years after RA 9165 was signed into law.

President Rodrigo Duterte is pushing for the revival of the death penalty.

Death for selling drugs?

 


Meanwhile, the same survey showed that 59 percent of Filipinos also  mistakenly believe that selling illegal drugs is a crime punishable by death.

The SWS said there was almost no difference in the belief that selling illegal drugs is punishable by death in the four surveyed areas: 61 percent in Visayas, 59 percent in Metro Manila, and 58 percent each in Balance Luzon and Mindanao believed selling drugs can cost a drug retailer's life.

In the same survey, SWS found 56 percent of surveyed Filipinos do not know of any rehabilitation program for drug users.

The other 44 percent said yes to the question: "Sa pagkakaalam ninyo, mayroon bang aktuwal na programang pangrehabilitasyon para sa mga sumukong suspect sa ilegal na bentahan ng droga?"

Metro Manila had the highest proportion of those who know of rehabilitation programs for surrenderees at 62 percent followed by Balance of Luzon at 43 percent, while 40 percent of respondents from Visayas and Mindanao, answered in the affirmative to the survey question.

The SWS in recent weeks released results of surveys related to illegal drugs or the administration's war on drugs.

Some of these results showed a majority of Filipinos believed drug suspects were killed despite surrendering, and that more than 50 percent of Filipinos believed that many of those killed by police did not really put up a fight, contrary to the usual police line.

Malacañang had slammed the SWS' survey questions, calling them "leading" and "pointed." —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/ALG, GMA News

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