4 out of 5 Filipinos worry over extrajudicial killings – SWS

MANILA, Philippines – A Social Weather Stations’ (SWS) survey result released on Friday, March 1, said 78% or almost 4 out of 5 Filipinos are worried that they, or someone they know, will be a victim of extrajudicial killings (EJK).

The SWS survey, conducted December 16 to 19, 2018, noted that this number was “up by 5 points from the 73% (from the survey conducted) in June 2017.”

The June 2017 survey showed 73% of Filipinos worried about EJKs. (READ: 7 in 10 Filipinos worried about selves, neighbors becoming EJK victims – SWS)

In the December 2018 survey, anxiety over EJKs was highest in Visayas (83%), with Metro Manila (79%), Mindanao (78%), and Balance Luzon (75%) following closely.

Despite the worry, though, more people in the December 2018 survey said the government was serious about solving the EJK problem at 71% or 7 out of 10 Filipinos, compared to June 2017 at 63%.

The SWS’ December 2018 survey also found that the nation is split on who the EJKs target, with 50% saying only the poor are victimized and 48% saying the problem does not choose a class. Three percent say that only the rich are victimized.

Meanwhile, only 12% of Filipinos say that they know someone who was a victim of EJK. This number went down by 3 percentage points since the June 2017 survey.

Of those who knew a victim, most said that the victim was their acquiantance (8%), while less people said it was their neighbor (3%), relative (2%), best friend (2%), or officemate (2%). More of those who knew a victim came from urban areas (18%) than rural areas (12%).

The SWS survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,440 adults, aged 18 years and above. They spoke to 360 people each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

They noted that there is a sampling error margin of ±2.6% for national percentages, and ±5% each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

SWS also noted that their survey was non-commissioned and the results were released as a public service. – Rappler.com