56% of Pinoys agree ICC should probe Duterte drug war deaths —SWS poll

Majority of Filipinos agree that the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. should allow the International Criminal Court to probe the drug war killings allegedly committed during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results released Tuesday showed.

The SWS poll, which was conducted last December 8-11, 2023, showed that 56% of the respondents are in favor of allowing ICC probers in the country. This was an increase from 48% in March 2023.

The survey also showed that 25% were undecided while 19% disagreed.

These figures yielded a net agreement score of 37%, classified by SWS as strong.This was an increase compared with 28% net agreement in March 2023.

The December 2023 survey also found that 53% of Filipino adults agreed with the ICC investigation, 26% were undecided, while 20% disagreed.

The SWS poll was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 respondents aged 18 years old and above nationwide. Of the number, 300 were from Metro Manila, 300 from Balance Luzon, 300 from the Visayas, and 300 from Mindanao.

The sampling error margins are ±2.8% for national percentages, ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

Survey conducted by another firm showed a similar result.

Based on the results of a non-commissioned survey by OCTA Research, 55% of Filipinos were in favor of the government cooperating with the ICC investigation into the drug-related killings during the Duterte administration.

The ICC is currently investigating former President Duterte over the alleged crimes against humanity due to the drug war-related killings during his term. These deaths reached around 6,000 based on police records, but human rights groups contend that there were as much as 30,000.

Marcos initially said that the Philippines is done talking with ICC and that it has no jurisdiction as the Philippines already pulled out of ICC in March 2019. 

He also said that returning to ICC fold is under study. 

On Tuesday, Marcos said  the ICC has no jurisdiction on crimes committed in the Philippines. 

''It opens a Pandora’s Box. It’s still those questions of jurisdiction and sovereignty. I haven’t yet seen a sufficient answer for it. Until then, I do not recognize their jurisdiction in the Philippines,'' Marcos said.—AOL, GMA Integrated News