Top antidrug exec wants return of death penalty

DAGUPAN CITY—The head of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) on Wednesday called for the restoration of the death penalty for illegal drug trafficking to put a stop to the illegal trade in the country.

Antonio Villar Jr., DDB chair, said drug mules of international syndicates have been emboldened to come to the country “with tons and tons of illegal drugs because they will not die here when they are arrested.”

“Sometimes, they even get away with it. But in their own countries, just a few grams of illegal drugs will mean the death penalty for them,” said Villar, who was guest at the 115th Independence Day celebration here.

Life in a jail

With the abolition of the death penalty in 2006, the maximum penalty that the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (Republic Act 9165) can impose on illegal drug traffickers is life imprisonment.

Villar said peddlers of illegal drugs should be meted the highest punishment because they destroy the future of young people.

“The users are victims and we should help them,” Villar said.

Villar said the country’s illegal drugs problem has become so serious that 96 percent of villages in Metro Manila alone are affected.

He also said that in Pangasinan, 78 villages in 33 of its 48 towns and cities have illegal drugs-related problems.

He cited the worst case as that of Barangay (village) Bonuan Binloc here.

Superintendent Christopher Abrahano, Dagupan police chief, said when he assumed office in January, he immediately planned a police operation in the village.

Steep cost

“For the first time in the history of Dagupan City, we seized more than 200 grams of illegal drugs. But our job is not yet finished. We still have a lot of things to do,” Abrahano said.

He said one sign that authorities are winning the war on illegal drugs is the reduction of drug supply in the city.

“Our indicator is the prevailing price. A gram of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) here is now about P9,000, one of the highest in the country. This just means that the supply is constricted,” Abrahano said.

He said Dagupan is still a drop-off point for illegal drugs in Northern Luzon because it is a bustling city.

“What is important is that we know that there is a drug problem and we have to help one another to solve it,” he said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon