Rodrigo Duterte’s lawless war on drugs is wildly popular
And he is unlikely ever to be held to account for it
THE WOMEN agree among themselves. As field staff for Social Weather Stations (sws), a pollster in Metropolitan Manila, they find that the vast majority of Filipinos approve of President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs. People repeatedly tell them that they just want the drugs trade controlled, and the results of their inquiries show that almost two in three Filipinos believe that the number of drug users in their area has dropped since Mr Duterte came to power in 2016. Their own experience tells them something similar. They say they can now go about their polling in parts of drug-ravaged cities that were once too dangerous.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Still the people’s choice”
Briefing February 22nd 2020
From the February 22nd 2020 edition
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