Neophyte Senator Ronald dela Rosa on Thursday said he wants high-level drug traffickers to be executed by firing squad in Luneta Park or in any public place where there will be media coverage, to instill fear in the hearts of those involved in the illegal drug trade.
Dela Rosa said he is also open to executing convicted drug traffickers inside the New Bilibid Prison or the Muntinlupa Penitentiary.
At a forum Thursday, Dela Rosa, the former head of the Philippine National Police, said his daughter had told him that it might not be good for children to witness a person being killed by firing squad.
“So I told my child it’s the reason why we have parental guidance. The parents can guide their children while we send the message to the public,” he said.
“Death penalty is important. Those who should be executed,” he said in Thursday’s “Kapihan sa Senado” forum.
Dela Rosa said he wants the death penalty only for serious drug offenses, and not other heinous crimes.
“That’s my version,” said Dela Rosa, who was the main executor of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.
Dela Rosa also said two other senators—newly elected Senator Christopher Go and Senator Manny Pacquiao—also support a return of the death penalty.
Go proposes the death penalty be carried out through lethal injection.
At the same time, he said he is open to lowering the minimum amount needed to charge a person with plunder, which is currently set at P50 million.
Pacquiao also wants the restoration of the death penalty for illegal drug traffickers and manufacturers.
Pacquiao has filed Senate Bill 189 that seeks to impose the death penalty with a fine ranging from P1 million to P10 million to persons who will import, sell, distribute, manufacture, possess illegal drugs, cultivate or culture plants classified as dangerous drugs, and maintain a drug den.
Under the bill, life imprisonment to death and a fine ranging from P500,000 to P1 million will also be imposed upon any person who acts as a “protector or coddler” of violators of the provisions.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino on Thursday backed the return of the death penalty for drug-related crimes.
He blamed the absence of the death penalty to the operation of international drug syndicates here in the country.
“Well, some personalities have been coordinating with PDEA. I for myself… I am for death penalty. There are some instances as I have [always] said before that international drug syndicates continue to smuggle drugs because there’s no death penalty in the country,” he said.
On Thursday, PDEA said it destroyed some P6.06 billion worth of dangerous drugs in Barangay Aguado, Trece Martires City in Cavite.
Destroyed through thermal decomposition were a total of 1,405,840.45 grams or 1.41 tons of assorted pieces of drug evidence composed of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, ephedrine, ketamine, pseudoephedrine, chloroephedrine, diazepam, nitrazepam, zolpidem, temazepam, clonazepam, alprazolam, methylphenidate, dimethylamphetamine, and expired medicines; and 598 milliliters of liquid shabu, 1,126.20 milliliters of gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), and 104.43 milliliters of lidocaine.
Thermal decomposition, or thermolysis, is the method of decomposition or breaking down of chemical by heat. The decomposition temperature of a substance is the temperature at which the substance chemically decomposes. At 1,000 degrees Celsius, all dangerous drugs are totally decomposed or broken down.
Aquino led the destruction of the contraband as ordered by the court.
“We want the public to witness the destruction of drug evidence seized by drug enforcement officers in order to dispel the public notion that these illicit items are being reused, recycled or sold back in the streets,” Aquino said.
Majority of illegal drugs destroyed were the 276 blocks or 331.066 kilograms of cocaine, with an estimated street value of P2.25 billion, that were discovered floating in the different shorelines of Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Quezon, Camarines Norte, Catanduanes, Albay, Sorsogon, Davao Oriental, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Dinagat Islands. With PNA and Rio N. Araja
READ: UN HCR frets over Manila’s war on drugs
READ: Over 12,000 barangays now ‘drug-cleared’: PNP
