Death of three: A wakeup call

While many of us sympathize with the families of the three Filipinos executed in China for drug smuggling, we cannot ignore the underlying reason why this happened: They broke the law in a foreign country and there’s no going around it. We can assume that Sally Villanueva, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain became victims, lured into becoming mules for big money by drug syndicates whose illegal trade has become a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide.

At a diplomatic function the other day, Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao tried as well as he could to explain to us his country’s position on the death penalty. Under China’s criminal law, there are specific crimes and offenses (already reduced from 68 to 55 this year) that can merit capital punishment. Some of them carry a mandatory death sentence like smuggling, trafficking, transporting or manufacturing of narcotics  listed among eight specific offenses under the heading of “Crimes disrupting the order of social administration.”

What made it extremely difficult for the three Filipinos is the fact that the drugs each carried was way beyond 50 grams, the amount that carries the death penalty. Villanueva had 4.4 kilograms of heroin hidden in her suitcase; Credo was caught with 4.1 kilograms while Batain carried 6.8 kilograms sealed inside reams of bond paper in her luggage. China has been severely strict with drug smugglers and considers drugs a scourge of society  and a major factor in determining the penalty is the amount of the trafficked substance because in their law, the bigger the amount, the more lives that can be potentially destroyed by it. One kilogram is equivalent to 1,000 grams.

Nobody can dispute the fact that a lot of violent and heinous crimes like murder and rape are almost always drug-related. In China, the problem of drug trafficking and addiction has reached a tipping point with over 50,000 drug trafficking cases reported and almost 28 tons of drugs seized in 2009 alone. There is no mistaking the grim determination of the Chinese government to curb the drug trade especially with the increasing number of foreign drug smugglers  many of whom are women from Southeast Asian and African countries. Last year, a British national, a South African and a Japanese were all executed for drug smuggling.

Even with their own citizens, China is unbending as seen in the execution of 10 locals last year. Just recently, a former narcotics chief in the populous metropolis of Chongqing was also handed the death sentence for collaborating with drug dealers, taking in 1.2 million yuan in bribes and tolerating the activities of two dealers who were also meted the death sentence for trafficking more than 120,000 grams of heroin in a span of 13 years. 

According to the 2011 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) issued by the US State Department, the number of big time foreign-based drug organizations operating in the Philippines has increased from around three in 2008 to nine last year. Ironically, some are run by Chinese nationals with the trade pegged at over $8.4 billion in annual revenues. The report also noted that the majority of seized high grade methamphetamine or shabu appear to be of foreign origin, and that “numerous arrests in South America and Asia in 2010 showed an increasing trend of Filipino citizens acting as drug couriers lured by these international drug syndicates.” This assessment is supported by official government data that 630 Filipinos are in prison today for drug trafficking in foreign countries  250 in China alone with 72 now on death row. Certainly we cannot continue to keep appealing for their lives.

We need to seriously start going after the drug syndicates in this country. Sadly, we are already being tagged as the “drug capital of Southeast Asia.” While it may be true that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency had seized 222 kilos of shabu worth $49 million; 1,988 kilos of marijuana worth $2.5 million and 584 kilos of cocaine worth $61.9 million last year, let’s not kid ourselves  the drug problem in this country is far more serious than corruption and jueteng combined. In 2008, authorities trumpeted the biggest drug bust in Subic valued at P5 billion, but what has happened since then? The Taiwanese mastermind was mysteriously able to leave the country along with his family.

What needs to be thoroughly investigated is how the three executed Filipinos were able to leave the country with such a large amount of prohibited drugs. Authorities could have stopped them right there and then. If there’s anything that the family of Sally Villanueva should blame the government for, it’s their failure to detect the drugs when she left for China. There is every indication that the drug syndicates have penetrated our airports in connivance with corrupt officials. The country’s drug problem has truly gone from bad to worse. Filipino travelers are now the most carefully watched individuals upon entry into most airports and more often than not are subjected to “secondary inspections.” And the sad part is that most countries no longer respect holders of Philippine “diplomatic passports.” 

Every country has its own laws and no amount of diplomatic initiatives could ever change that. It’s time we do the same and strictly follow our own laws and equally apply it to all whether one is a local or a foreigner. We have had far too many Filipinos involved in crimes committed in other countries. The execution of Sally Villanueva, Elizabeth Batain and Ramon Credo will not be the last. There will be many more of the same unless we start nipping it in the bud.

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