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Popularity of Philippine President Duterte at 76%: Poll

Thursday, 06 October 2016 10:54 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 06 October 2016 10:57 AM ]

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he delivers a speech during a meeting with military personnel in Manila, October 4, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

An independent opinion poll in the Philippines shows that President Rodrigo Duterte has been enjoying high popularity during his first 90 days in office, even as he faces international criticism for a harsh war on drugs.

According to the poll published by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) agency on Thursday, 76 percent of the 1,200 Filipinos surveyed nationwide expressed satisfaction with Duterte’s performance, while 11 percent were dissatisfied and 13 percent were undecided.

The Manila-based polling group said that the survey had been conducted through face-to-face interviews between September 24 and 27 with a three-percentage-point margin of error.

“The president seems to be off to a very good start,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said. “The people trust what he is doing.”

Duterte, a former mayor of Davao, won the presidency in May, promising to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers in three to six months.

In the election in May, he received 37.6 percent of the votes.

More than 3,500 people — or about 47 per day — have been killed during his tenure over the past months in connection with the illegal drugs trade, nearly two thirds by unknown assailants and the rest in legitimate police operations, according to local police.

Last month, Duterte said, “Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets.”

One of the latest killings, which prompted the European Parliament to issue a condemnation of Manila, occurred on September 2, when police attacked a night market in the city of Davao and killed at least 14 people and injured 70 others for alleged drug-related crimes.

A police officer in civilian clothes (L) watches suspected drug users arrested during a drug buy-bust operation by police along a rail line in suburban Manila, early September 30, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Civil rights campaigners have criticized the police operations amid concerns that some of the suspects killed may have been summarily executed by the law enforcement officers.

Human Rights Watch said the nation needs an “independent” investigation into whether Duterte had had a role in the alleged extrajudicial killings.

Duterte has dismissed criticism of his anti-drug crackdown, threatening to end the Philippines’ membership in the United Nations (UN).

The Filipino president has also directed a number of abusive tirades at his critics, telling US President Barack Obama to “go to hell,” among other obscenities. He has also scorned the EU and the UN, calling UN chief Ban Ki-moon a “fool.”

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