FORTY-SEVEN PERCENT (47%) of Filipinos mistakenly believe using illegal drugs is a crime punishable by death, while a higher percentage, 59%, also mistakenly believe that selling illegal drugs is punishable too by death, the results of a poll by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) have shown.

As SWS noted, the latest results from its Social Weather Survey of June 23-26 are in contrast to the fact that “Philippine law currently does not allow death penalty for any criminal offense.”

“Capital punishment was effectively abolished on June 30, 2006 during the term of then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through passage of RA 9346 by the 13th Congress titled “An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of Death Penalty in the Philippines,” SWS said.

The survey noted that “belief in existence of death penalty for drug use” is higher in the Visayas and Mindanao, both at 52%.

Metro Manila had the lowest proportion of respondents, at 39%, who believed that drug use is punishable by death.

“However, the June 2017 survey found no by-area differences in terms of the belief that selling illegal drugs is punishable by death. It was 61% in the Visayas, 59% in Metro Manila, and 58% each in Balance Luzon and Mindanao,” the survey noted.

The survey also showed that 44% know of a rehabilitation program for so-called drug surrenderers.

Metro Manila had the highest proportion, at 62%, of those who know of rehabilitation programs for surrenderers, followed by Balance Luzon at 43%, and the Visayas and Mindanao, each with 40%.

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