Perception of the Residents of Barangay Ramos on Oplan Tokhang

Authors

  • Robinson Grande Jr.

Keywords:

Drugs, Oplan Tokhang, Perception, Community

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Illegal drugs are one of the major problems of countries all over the world. Drug addiction has severely affected the society. The flagship program Oplan Tokhang brought burden and benefits to the country. in a data published by the Associated Press (2016), anaverage of 36 suspected drug pushers and users are killed daily, creating a human rights crisis that brings fear to the people of the country. Oplan Tokhang pushed drug users and pushers to surrender to authorities and plead to change for the better. It is in this context that this study is conducted to find the perceptions of the residents of Barangay Ramos towards this anti-drug campaign.

METHODS

The descriptive-quantitative method is used to identify the perception of the respondents. A questionnaire was utilized wherein respondents, who are chosen purposively, answered a 15 item Likert scale-based structured statements. Results were treated through the quantitative method. Mean and percentages were utilized to analyze data and to be the basis for its interpretation in order to derive the conclusions and recommendations.

RESULTS

Results show that 42 or 84% of the respondents perceived that Oplan Tokhang is beneficial to the community. This data is being supported by the result mined from the statement " Oplan Tokhang draw more illegal drug surrenderees" with 88% or 44 respondents agreeing with this statement. Almost all of the respondents imbued positivity to the statements on the structured questionnaire as it posted mean scores of not lower than 3.0 except for the statement Oplan Tokhang adheres human right laws which only posted 2.98 mean score. Citing the perceptions of respondents on the individual benefits of Oplan Tokhang, 47 or 94% of the respondents believe that Oplan Tokhang benefits the people, especially the innocent civilians and the program makes an individual be more disciplined. Collectively, people of the community, have positive perceptions about the anti-drug campaign, "Oplan Tokhang”.

DISCUSSIONS

The result therefore demonstrates that residents of Barangay Ramos see Oplan Tokhang to have positive impacts to the community. It is therefore recommended to strengthen the program to achieve a harmonious community.

Published

2019-01-18