55% of Filipinos back ICC probe
MORE than half of the Filipino population wants the government to cooperate with the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) probe of former president Rodrigo R. Duterte’s deadly war on drugs, according to an OCTA Research poll.
In its Dec. 10-14 survey, OCTA found that 55% of adult Filipinos were in favor of the Philippine government cooperating with the Hague-based tribunal’s investigation of the Duterte administration’s drug war, which had killed thousands of suspects.
On the other hand, 45% are opposed to cooperating with the ICC probe, OCTA said.
“Across different major areas, the percentage of adult Filipinos who favor this idea ranges from 42% to 65%,” it said in a statement on Sunday.
The ICC probe covers crimes committed in Davao City from November 2011 to June 2016 when he was still its mayor, as well as cases during his presidency up until March 16, 2019, the day before the Philippines withdrew from the ICC.
The highest support is in Balance Luzon (65%), while the lowest is in Mindanao (42%),” it added.
Bicol region had the highest approval for cooperation with 79%, while only 6% from Davao region — Mr. Duterte’s bailiwick — wanted the Philippines to cooperate with the ICC.
The pollster interviewed 1,200 adults face-to-face. The poll has a margin of error of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% for regional breakdowns.
Mr. Marcos in January said his government would not, in any way, cooperate with the ICC. But that was before his successor openly attacked his administration and called him a drug addict in a political rally in the southern Philippine city of Davao on Jan. 29.
The OCTA survey also showed 59% of adult Filipinos were in favor of rejoining the ICC, while 41% opposed the idea.
The highest support for rejoining the ICC was recorded in Luzon areas outside Metro Manila with 65%. Mindanao, on the other hand, showed the least support with 51%.
“Regarding socioeconomic classes, the percentage of adult Filipinos who favor the Philippines rejoining the ICC as a member ranges from 58% to 67%, with the highest support from Filipinos belonging to Class ABC (67%),” OCTA said.
Opposition to the idea was highest among those in Class D at 42%.
Mr. Marcos had vowed to shift the focus of the drug war to rehabilitation, but the University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center’s Dahas project had reported that a year into his term, a total of 342 people had been killed by state actors in connection with illegal drugs. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza