TWO lawmakers yesterday said the Philippines should also execute Chinese drug convicts after the Asian superpower put to death two Filipinos for drug trafficking despite high-level government appeals for their death sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chair of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, called for the passage of his pet bill, House Bill No. 1543, seeking the reimposition of the death penalty on drug-related offenses.
“Our kababayans convicted in foreign lands for drug trafficking are almost always executed while we extend kid gloves treatment, if not VIP treatment, to foreigners especially Chinese nationals who are apprehended and convicted of the same offense here. There should be a similar punishment imposed on these foreign nationals as well as fellow Filipinos who introduce drugs into the country. If other countries treat illegal drugs as a threat to their citizenry and the whole society, why are we so soft in treating this menace in our own territory?” Barbers said.
He added that while China is firm in executing Filipinos for drug-related violations, the Philippines continues to get “flooded with tons and tons of illegal drugs especially shabu from China.”
“It is a wonder that while China was very, very hard on drug trafficking, the drugs that come to our shores originate from its ports. Yet, we have yet to see one Chinese convict being executed to deter others from committing such a heinous crime. It seems that we have accepted all the exports from China, from POGOs (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) to illegal gambling and kidnapping syndicates, sleeper cells, illegal drugs and what have you. It is obvious that we have become the dumping ground of the scums in their society, yet we seem to be oblivious to what they are doing to our country. Our eyes seem to be wide shut,” said the lawmaker.
While he condemns all illegal drug activities, Barbers urged the two houses of Congress “to take a serious look at the reimposition of the death penalty, most especially on drug related offenses.”
HB No. 1543 remained pending in the House Committee on Justice, but Barbers has consistently refiled the measure in three Congresses.
Barbers pointed out that during the past administration, the concentration was on the demand side, leading to the arrests and deaths of thousands of street drug pushers and users.
“It is long overdue that we seriously train out guns on the supply side of this illegal drug trade. If we can deter the foreign suppliers, we will send a strong signal that our people are not guinea pigs of their drugs. The continuous inflow of drugs from China is a serious insult to our government and meant to belittle our laws, in the same way that they are not afraid of our military forces in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez also called for a tit-for-tat treatment of Chinese nationals convicted by local courts for drug trafficking by imposing the death penalty on them.
“If they put our compatriots to death for violations connected to illegal drugs, let us do the same to their nationals, many of whom are caught manufacturing, peddling or smuggling drugs into the country,” said the lawmaker, who has been denouncing Chinese bullying and harassment of Filipino fishermen and troops in the West Philippine Sea.
Rodriguez called on Congress to immediately pass his Bill No. 2459, filed on July 27, 2022.
The measure is titled, “An Act adopting the higher prescribed penalty, including death, of the national law of an alien found guilty of trafficking dangerous drugs and other similar substances, amending for the purpose Republic Act No. 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.”
Under the bill, a foreigner convicted of a drug offense by a local court would be meted out the death penalty if such punishment is imposable for the same crime in his home country.
Like Barbers, Rodriguez said it is not fair that Filipinos get the death penalty in China, while Chinese nationals involved in illegal drugs here suffer only life imprisonment.
He said drug traffickers and other criminals in China and other countries where the death penalty is imposable “go to the Philippines to pursue their nefarious activities because they know that if they are convicted, they can enjoy life in prison and even continue their illegal pursuits there.”
