A panel in the House of Representatives that has approved a measure imposing death on foreign nationals found guilty of engaging in drug-related activities in the country now awaits plenary consideration.
The House committee on dangerous drugs, chaired by Iligan Rep. Vicente Belmonte Jr., referred for plenary action House Bill 1213 which provides stiffer penalties, including death, against alien offenders in the country.
“This means that the imposition of the penalty for drug offenses as prescribed under the national law of the foreign national or the penalty under Republic Act 9165, whichever is higher, is the rule to follow,” the bill’s author, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.
The measure, if passed into law, will amend Republic Act 9165, otherwise known as the ‘‘Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002” by “adopting the higher prescribed penalty, including death, of the national law of an alien found guilty of trafficking dangerous drugs and other similar substances.”
In June 2006, R.A. 9346 was enacted into law prohibiting the imposition of death penalty in the Philippines, said Rodriguez, a former immigration commissioner.
“While the rationale for passing the law was very clear and noble, there are some sectors of society who believe that this law is not just and equitable because while foreigners may not be executed in the Philippines for drug trafficking, Filipinos who commit the same are executed in other countries with death penalty,” Rodriguez said.
Because of the ban on death penalty, an argument against the law states that many foreign nationals are now emboldened to establish their drug factories in the country because once convicted, they only suffer life imprisonment as opposed to the penalty that they may suffer in their own countries which, in some cases, like death in China, he added.
He also cited constant reports of foreign nationals, including Chinese nationals, being caught selling drugs and operating drug dens and laboratories in the country. And once caught and convicted, the penalty that our courts may impose is only life imprisonment.
“This is a sad, or even unfair situation because when Filipinos are caught drug trafficking abroad, they may be imposed the death penalty, as seen in the most recent execution of the three Filipinos in China, namely Elizabeth Batain, 38, Sally Ordinario Villanueva, 32, and Ramon Credo, 42,” Rodriguez pointed out.
Again, in July 2013, a 35-year-old Filipina was executed despite pleas from the Philippine Government. She was caught in January 2011 with 6.198 kilos of heroin in her luggage at the Hangzhou International Airport and was sentenced to death in 2011.
“While there is no reason to question the laws of foreign countries, we must however, ensure that our countrymen do not suffer the short end of the stick,” Rodriguez stressed.