44% of Filipinos satisfied with Robredo’s work as ICAD co-chair

MANILA, Philippines – Four in 10 Filipinos are satisfied with Vice President Leni Robredo’s brief stint as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), according to the results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey held in December 2019 but released a month later.

The Fourth Quarter 2019 Social Weather Survey, conducted from December 13 to 16, 2019, showed that 44% of Filipinos are satisfied with Robredo’s performance as ICAD co-chair, 26% were dissatisfied, while 30% were undecided – for a  moderate +18 net satisfaction rating.

Robredo served as ICAD co-chair only for 18 days, or from November 6 to 24, 2019.  Duterte appointed her to the post after she criticized his anti-drug campaign and dared her to do a better job, then fired her over two weeks later,  accusing her of using the post to attack his administration. (READ: The gamble of Leni Robredo)

The SWS released a report on the survey results on the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs on January 12 but released an updated version on Wednesday night, January 15, saying it had “inadvertently omitted” the item on public satisfaction with Robredo as ICAD co-chair in the earlier report.

The pollster said it fielded 7 questions on the campaign against illegal drugs in its December 2019 survey, 5 of them related to Robredo’s ICAD stint.

‘Admission of failing drug war’

The survey results also showed that 49% or a near majority of Filipinos agreed that the removal of Robredo as ICAD co-chief “is an admission by the administration that its [drug] war is failing” while 21% disagreed with the statement, and 30% were undecided, for a moderately strong +28 net agreement.

Asked how much they agreed or disagreed with Robredo’s right to see the list of the government’s high-value drug targets, 60% of Filipinos agreed, 15% disagreed, and 25% were undecided, for a very strong net agreement score of +45.

Robredo had wanted to see the government list of high-value targets as ICAD co-chief, as cleaning up the drug list was a top priority for her, particularly removing names of innocent people. But she was denied access to this as she was the leader of the political opposotion.

The survey results also showed that 44% of Filipinos believed President Rodrigo Duterte was “sincere” in appointing Robredo to ICAD, 27% believed he was insincere, while 29% were undecided.

Other survey findings are that a big majority of Filipinos believe that there are “many” human rights abuses committed in the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign. A majority of Filipinos also agreed  with the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution calling for actions against extrajudicial killings related to campaign.

The survey was conducted 3 weeks before Robredo released her recommendations on the government’s anti-drug campaign. (READ: Here are reforms Robredo wants in Duterte govt’s drug war)

The nationwide survey was conducted among 1,200 adults – 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The nationwide survey has sampling error margins of ±3%, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The SWS said the survey items on public opinion about the government’s campaign against illegal drugs are non-commissioned and included on its own initiative and released as a public service.” – Rappler.com