Senator Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao beat me to the punch, calling for death penalty by firing squad for convicted illegal drugs traffickers or drug lords.
On Jan. 15, 1973, the Filipino nation witnessed the public execution of Chinese drug lord Lim Seng by firing squad, an indelible image in the minds of our generation that accentuated the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign, and which the people overwhelmingly approved back then.
But after martial law years and the inception of Yellow revolution, big-time druglords wallowed in their newfound freedom and all sorts of illegal drugs became rampant everywhere.
Since then, there have been a resurgence of violent crimes over the decades and rampant organized crime, particularly illegal drugs trafficking, so widespread with many perpetrators being immune from prosecution because of protection from authorities and narco-politicians.
It now makes sense to finally resurrect the death penalty or capital punishment versus capital crimes such as murder involving illegal drugs, robbery with rape, armed robbery with homicide, terrorist killings, and kidnapping for ransom.
This legislative proposal has never died down precisely because there is a dire need for it and I fully support Senator Pacquiao’s proposal for imposing the harsh capital punishment by musketry or firing squad.
I myself do not buy the argument that exacting the death sentence to any human being is barbaric and that it has no place in a civil society, especially in a predominantly Christian nation like ours. To this I say that it is more barbaric to tolerate and coddle hardened criminals and deprive deserved justice to victims of heinous crimes.
Countless innocent victims have fallen prey to the most shocking crimes committed, defying imagination, for example the brutal rape-murder of a helpless girl, skinned and mutilated by a drug-crazed killer.
Indeed, I subscribe to the edict, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” the principle that a person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree.
I strongly believe that the imposition of the death penalty by firing squad as proposed by Pacman will deal a major blow to the culture of criminal impunity in a country gone awry over the past decades. It shall be a knockout punch versus cold-blooded druglords.
I am glad that President Duterte once again pushed for the passage of the death penalty bill in the 18th Congress during his 4th State of the Nation Address.
I agree, too, that would help if Manong Digong certifies the death penalty bill as urgent or priority legislation.
As expected, the Commission on Human Rights was quick to quack-quack in opposition to Manong Digong and Pacman’s proposition and in defense of hardened criminals’ “human rights?”
What about the human rights of heinous crimes victims?