Richard Gomez wants death penalty for drug traffickers

Leyte Representative Richard Gomez on Sunday said that he wants to reinstate the death penalty for big-time drug traffickers in the country.

Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, the lawmaker said that the national government needed to intensify its campaign and apprehension program against illegal drugs.

“Kung kaya natin na palitan ang batas natin and then gawin natin na death penalty para sa drug traffickers at mga drug pushers, so be it. It has to be that strong,” Gomez said.

(If we can change our law and then allow the death penalty for drug traffickers and drug pushers, so be it. It has to be that strong.)

“Ang problema ng drugs, hindi ito nadadaan sa pakiusapan eh. Hindi mo pwedeng pakiusapan at sabihin mo sa drug pusher, ‘Uy, ‘wag ka na magbenta ng drugs kasi masama talaga ‘yan, nakakasira ng bayan natin.’ ‘Pag ganyan ka magsalita, ikaw mismo babaralin ka ng mga no’n. Kailangan malakas talaga ‘yung pwersa,” he added.

(The problem with drugs is that you can't deal with it by being polite. You can't beg and say, "Hey, don't sell drugs because that's bad, it's destroying our country." If you talk that way, they will shoot you. You need to be forceful.)

Should President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s administration reinstitute capital punishment, Gomez said that he expected human rights and religious groups to oppose it.

However, the effects of illegal drugs on Filipinos should carry more weight.

“We were almost in a narco state pag-upo nga ni Presidente [Rodrigo] Duterte. ‘Wag na natin ipagpatuloy ‘yun. We have to make strong measures nang sa gayon ay talagang mapuksa at mabawasan ang incidents ng ilegal na droga dito sa bansa,” he said.

(We were almost a narco-state when President Duterte took office. Let's not continue that. We have to take strong measures so that we can eliminate or reduce illegal drugs in this country.)

According to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), 22,646 drug personalities were arrested in 18,505 police anti-illegal drug operations since Marcos took office in July.

Some P9.7-billion worth of various illegal drugs were confiscated by the Philippine National Police during those operations, the DILG added.

The national government officially launched its anti-illegal drugs advocacy program - dubbed Buhay Ay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawan (BIDA) - on Saturday.

The program was described as an intensified and holistic campaign.

Meanwhile, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Thursday said he wanted to decriminalize the use of illegal drugs to decongest jails and address drug addiction as a health issue instead of a law enforcement matter.  — DVM, GMA Integrated News