PDEA proposes execution for drug barons

The execution of convicted big-time drug traffickers will be a good deterrent against people trading in illegal drugs, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said yesterday.

PDEA director general Anselmo Avenido Jr., in a statement, said President Arroyo is "seriously considering" the execution of convicted drug offenders who were meted capital punishment and whose cases have been affirmed by the Supreme Court.

The President hinted yesterday that she may allow judicial executions to resume as part of a high-profile campaign against illegal drugs.

"I shall make a decision on the possible reimposition of the death penalty on the basis of moral principles and due process," she said in a statement.

"I am prepared to exercise utmost political will to beat this menace in accord with a sound and just moral compass," she said following calls by some groups for restoring the death penalty to help in the war on illegal drugs.

However, Mrs. Arroyo also stressed that any revival of capital punishment would have to include measures to ensure "that those who would be condemned to death are indeed notorious drug lords and not small-time pushers."

The President suspended judicial executions by injection last year while the issue of abolishing capital punishment was debated in Congress. Since then, congressional discussions have so far failed to get the death penalty law abolished or amended.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said last Thursday that the President would not want to divide the nation on the issue of carrying out the death penalty.

Bunye said it is not timely to spark extended debates on the death penalty while the government is trying to consolidate the nation behind the war against illegal drugs.

Avenido, however, said Mrs. Arroyo supported the idea of imposing the death penalty during a conference of the Dangerous Drugs Board last Saturday. The Chief Executive herself presided over the conference.

"Actually, the death penalty is in the law. What we are looking into is the implementation," Avenido said.

He added that the President is open to the idea but has yet to receive documents on any pending execution.

"During the meeting in Malacañang last Saturday, this was also mentioned. What I heard from the President is that no papers have reached her office regarding the matter, and that she said she will seriously consider implementing the death penalty," Avenido said.

He also said the issue of the Roman Catholic Church’s strong objection to the implementation of the death penalty did not crop up during last week’s conference.

Philippine National Police Deputy Director General Edgardo Aglipay, head of the PNP’s special task force on illegal drugs, was mum on the issue.

Avenido and Aglipay led the coordinating conference between PDEA regional directors and police intelligence representatives to map out their strategy in the war against illegal drugs.

Aglipay said the police and PDEA have started identifying big-time drug traffickers and forming a strategy to neutralize them within the next three months.

Avenido said the conference enabled both agencies to consolidate efforts to neutralize big-time drug traffickers in the country, as ordered by the President.

"We will go for the big fishes and we will concentrate on the so-called high-intensity areas. So once these areas are cleared, there will be drastic effects on the drug market," he said.

The PNP, for its part, has issued guidelines on the conduct of anti-drug operations, Aglipay said.

He reminded all field commanders tapped to participate in the anti-drug campaign that all cases filed against suspected pushers and users should be monitored to ensure conviction.

"We listed here the detrimental acts that can be the subject of criminal and administrative (charges) against our people such as the planting of evidence, ‘overhauling’ of cases and non-appearance during court trials," Aglipay said.— With reports from AFP