The restoration of the death penalty will end the Philippines’ being an attractive location for illegal drug activities, an official said Wednesday.
“The PNP believes that with this kind of imposition, there would be a deterrence to crime,” Philippine National Police Chief Archie Gamboa told reporters in Camp Crame on the sidelines of the destruction of 800 kilograms of shabu seized in Bulacan.
“When we apprehend foreigners, the first question is why they do it here, and it’s because of the absence of the death penalty.”
Gamboa made his statement even as Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the death penalty could not be imposed on the seizure of a mere 50 grams of illegal drugs.
“That cannot be. The present law says 200 grams is non-bailable, so how do you impose the death penalty on 50 grams?” Sotto said.
“If they insist, then forget the bill. Fifty grams is easy to plant!”
Senator Grace Poe said the poor would be at risk with the re-imposition of the death penalty.
Without the needed reforms in the justice system, she said, the poor with scant resources to wage a decent defense in court would be the ones at risk.
“We have gone to great lengths to save lives and prevent more deaths during this COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
“We must also protect the lives of the defenseless and disadvantaged from the peril of injustice.”
Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, meanwhile, expressed his continued support to President Rodrigo Duterte. He has filed Senate Bill 207 that seeks to amend Republic Act 9346, which abolished the death penalty, by re-imposing the capital punishment for heinous crimes.
But Minority Leader and Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. bucked the death penalty for drug-related offenses and heinous crimes.
Abante, a pro-life legislator and the host pastor of the Metropolitan Bible Baptist Church and Ministries, said he was not inclined to support the death penalty if it would cover “more crimes other than drug trafficking, massacre, child rape and rape-slay.”
Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza called for reforms in the police force once capital punishment was in place, saying erring law enforcers might take advantage of the situation through extortion.
“The police have to be reformed. How can you have the death penalty if your police cannot be depended on?” Atienza said.
He said the death penalty would be useless without the much-needed reforms in the police force.
“Let’s not even talk about the death penalty under this condition,” Atienza said.
Gamboa made his statement after Duterte, in his fifth State-of-the-Nation Address, renewed his call for Congress to pass a bill restoring the death penalty for heinous crimes linked to illegal drugs.
“It has been the stand of the PNP that we are fully supportive of the imposition of the death penalty,” Gamboa said.
“Besides, the campaign of the Duterte administration against illegal drugs is unprecedented and this can’t just be compared with any other administration.”
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said law enforcement authorities would be running after big-time and small-time drug personalities—even as he rejected the claims that the death penalty would only target the poor.
“Big or small we will run after them, and their only option is to surrender,” he said.