TWO ranking officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday backed the proposal of former PNP chief and now Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa seeking to revive the imposition of the death penalty for drug traffickers.
“We welcome that development. First of all, we know the real effects of illegal drugs to a person,” Danao said, referring to Dela Rosa’s bill that proposed the reimposition of the capital punishment for large-scale drug traffickers.
Sen. Bong Go has also indicated his plan to file a similar bill to revive the death penalty which he said should be imposed not only on drug convicts but also on plunder convicts as well.
“I think it’s high time to really bring back death penalty, especially on the aspect of illegal drugs,” said Danao.
PNP director for operations Maj. Gen. Valeriano de Leon said he also supports Dela Rosa’s proposal.
“I am for the recommendation of Sen. Bato (Dela Rosa) to revive death penalty because it will be a strong deterrent to would-be offenders,” said De Leon.
“Kung mahuli ka at may death penalty, alam mo tapos ka na. (If you are caught and there is death penalty, you know that your life is over),” said De Leon.
Interior Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr earlier said the Marcos administration will sustain the Duterte administration’s war against illegal drugs.
The Duterte government’s war against drugs has led to the death of 6,252 suspects from July 1, 2016 until May 31 this year alone, according to data recently released by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Some 345,216 suspects, including 15,271 high-value targets, were arrested; P89.79 billion worth of illegal drugs were seized; and 25,361 barangays were cleared of illegal during the same period PDEA also said.
