‘Just do it’

Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada says he will support a presidential candidate who promises to restore the death penalty for drug traffickers and big-time drug pushers.

With his statement, Erap has brought home the point that the country’s No. 1 problem is the unabated spread of drugs.

Most crimes in the country are drug-related, meaning many people who commit serious crimes were under the influence of “shabu” or methamphetamine hydrochloride.

Police reports show that men “high” on shabu commit unspeakable crimes like raping even their daughters or sisters or  kill their parents.

A few years ago, a popular singer-actress reportedly died as a result of her addiction to shabu. Before she was found dead, this 1970s heartthrob roamed the streets in her town stark naked.

Erap is just one among so many local and national leaders who advocate the return of the death penalty for heinous crimes, such as drug trafficking, to stop the spread of the illegal substance.

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The drug business has become so profitable that many policemen or drug enforcement agents have become traffickers or pushers themselves.

After confiscating big quantities of narcotics, some cops or “narcs” set aside part of the haul which they later sell.

Any policeman or drug enforcement agent involved in the drug trade should be sentenced to death once capital punishment is revived.

The same penalty should also be applied to lawmen who “plant” drugs on innocent civilians.

Many policemen keep in their pockets a sachet of shabu or marijuana which they plant on civilians whom they want to shake down or who just happen to cross them.

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If the President we elect in May this year is squeamish about making drastic moves against drugs and criminality, this country may become another Mexico or Colombia.

In these countries, authorities fear the drug syndicates instead of the other way around.

The drug problem in Mexico and Colombia can be compared to the multi-headed Hydra in Greek mythology, a gigantic water serpent which could   be vanquished only by  Hercules.

While the drug problem in this country has not yet reached monstrous proportions, it soon might if the government doesn’t take drastic steps.

The execution of drug lords and their minions—legal or extrajudicial—seems to be the only solution.

Many judges or government prosecutors who try drug cases can be bought.

A lot of policemen are in cahoots with drug or criminal syndicates, that is, if they’re not involved in crime themselves.

The President-elect’s first order of business should be the elimination of big-time criminal  and drug gangs by all means possible.

Corrupt cops should be executed along with the criminals and drug lords they protect.

No ifs, ands or buts about solving the drug and crime problem.

As the ad for a popular sport footwear goes, “Just do it.”

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It seems there’s no difference between a criminal and a cop these days.

Chief Insp. Vinboy Pacamara, chief of the Taguig City Police Community Precinct

No. 3, and his men raided the house of Marvin Cortez.

They didn’t have a search warrant.

After Pacamara and his men left, Cortez’s live-in partner, Leah Escaler, claimed  that her bag containing P60,000 which was hidden in a drawer was missing.

Leah, who is due to give birth next month, said  the money which came from the sale of a lot owned by Cortez’s mother  was meant for her hospital expenses.