MOST Filipinos remain supportive of President Rodrigo Duterte’s bid to reinstate capital punishment despite a significant 14-point drop recorded in less than a year since he took office, the latest Pulse Asia survey revealed.
The survey, conducted among 1,200 respondents, showed that 67 percent supported the death penalty, a marked decline from 81 percent who did in July 2016.
At the same time, those who disagreed with the imposition of the death penalty on those who committed heinous crimes grew in number, from 11 percent in July 2016 to 25 percent in March 2017. Those who remained undecided stayed at eight percent.
Among those who support the death penalty, 97 percent said it should be applied to rape; 88 percent said it should be applied to murder; and 71 percent said it should be imposed for dug pushing.
Only 46 percent said death should be meted out for kidnapping, and an even lower 33 percent said it should be applied to plunderers.
On the other hand, most Filipinos—about 55 percent—said the lowest age of criminal liability in the Philippines should be 15 years old, despite President Duterte’s push to lower it to nine.
This was an opinion shared by big pluralities to sizable majorities across geographic areas and socio-economic classes, compared to Duterte’s suggestion for nine years old (9 percent) or 12 years old (20 percent).
Those in Luzon (63 percent) are in favor of keeping the minimum age of criminal liability at 15, followed by those in Mindanao (53 percent), Metro Manila (47 percent), and the Visayas (45 percent.)
Across socioeconomic classes, those in the poorest economic classes are in favor of keeping the minimum age of criminal liability to 15 , with Class E at 58 percent and Class D at 55 percent. The current setup is also favored by those in Class ABC at 48 percent.
The latest survey, conducted from March 15 to 20, has a ±3 points sampling error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.