Revilla urges weekly execution of drug lords

Sen. Ramon Revilla urged yesterday for the weekly execution of condemned drug lords to warn all those involved in the drug menace that the Arroyo administration really means business in crushing criminal syndicates.

Revilla lamented that not a single drug lord has been executed since the reimposition in 1994 of the death penalty for crimes classified as heinous.

He said that drugs syndicates consider the government rich in rhetoric but poor in action, as shown by their temerity in putting up a big number of clandestine shabu laboratories.

A shabu laboratory was raided in Quezon City three days before President Arroyo delivered her State of the Nation Address.

"The next customer of the lethal injection chamber must be a big-time drug lord or trafficker. If possible, let us perform the execution weekly until we get rid of the drug menace," Revilla said.

He pointed out that the drug menace eased after the public execution by firing squad of Lim Seng in 1972.

Revilla also bared the existence of at least six major international crime syndicates mainly involved in the trafficking of illegal drugs, in cahoots with local gangs.

"They are the ones who provide local drug syndicates with a steady supply of illegal drugs, funds to operate clandestine laboratories, and the technical know-how involved in the creation of other variants of shabu and amphetamines," he said.

He identified the six groups as: The Sun Yee on Triad, the Wo Group, the 14K Triad, the United Bamboo Gang, the Big Circle Gang, and the Ghost Shadows Triad.

"The Sun Yee On Triad is the most secretive, largest and hierarchical among the Hong Kong-based crime groups," Revilla said.

He said that the Sun Yee On Triad has about 50,000 members worldwide, including most of the Filipino big-time traffickers.

"The Wo Group is the second largest Hong Kong-based crime gang with more than 30,000 members worldwide," Revilla said, adding that most of the traffickers in the country’s Chinese districts belong to this syndicate.

He identified the 14K Triad as the most popular, with more than 25,000 members worldwide comprising 45 loosely knit subgroups.

"Unlike the other groups, the 14K is not as secretive, which is why they are mistakenly perceived to be the largest group operating in the country," Revilla said.

He bared that the 14K was founded by a Nationalist Chinese general who fled mainland China when the Communist came to power.

Revilla identified the United Bamboo Gang as the largest Taiwan-based syndicated which also operates in the country. He added that this gang has close operational linkages with 14K.

"Little is known about the Big Circle Gang, which is based in China," he admitted. "It was founded by former Red Guards and they do not allow foreigners within its ranks."

He said the Ghost Shadows Triad based in the US mainland is the smallest "but not the least cause of the drug threat." He said it is considered as "subcontractors" in the illegal drug activities, with the distribution of pure and high-grade cocaine transshipped to the Philippines as their main task.