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Barbers to renew call to reinstate death penalty for drug offenders
By JON VIKTOR D. CABUENAS, GMA Integrated NewsSurigao del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers is set to recommend anew the reinstatement of the death penalty to address the use of illegal drugs in the country, following reports of “recycling” confiscated drugs.
Barbers, who chairs the House Dangerous Drugs Panel, has long been pushing for the reinstatement of the death penalty to “bring shivers to the bones” of wrongdoers.
“Mag-recommend kami na itulak talaga ‘yung death penalty dito sa mga drug offenders na ‘to,” he was quoted as saying in a report by Mai Bermudez on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.
“Pangalawa, ‘yung sa method ng recycling, siguro dun pa lang sa pag-iimbentaryo ng ebidensya na nakakalap eh dapat istrikto na kaagad,” he added.
(We will recommend to really push the death penalty for these drug offenders… Secondly on the method of recycling, maybe it should be strict from the making of the inventory of the evidence collected.)
Barbers last week said he was informed that informants of the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) are being paid for successful tips with confiscated drugs that they then sell on the street.
Assets are supposedly given 30% to as much as 70% of the confiscated drugs, with PDEA Director General Virgilio Lazo saying that agents would be asked for some of the seized drugs for the same purpose, but they would be turned down.
A joint Senate Blue Ribbon and Justice Committee inquiry in 2019
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For its part, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said it is looking into the matter, and those found to be involved will face criminal and administrative charges.
“Hindi naman po ito ang policy ng PNP na mag-recycle ng drug. Hindi po ito papayagan at ito-tolerate ng PNP,” spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said in the same report.
(It is not the policy of the PNP to recycle drugs. This will not be allowed and tolerated by the PNP.)
Moving forward, the House of Representatives is set to hold another hearing on the matter, with officials of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the PNP and its Drug Enforcement Group, and the PDEA invited.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in January authorized the reopening of an inquiry into the war on drugs by the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte, a probe that Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla described as an “irritant.”
The government has since expressed its intention to appeal the resumption of the inquiry before the ICC Appeals Chamber.
Government records show that there were at least 6,200 drug suspects killed in police operations from June 2016 to November 2021, but several human rights groups have refuted this and estimate the actual death toll to be much higher. — BM, GMA Integrated News