Yesterday, amid tirades against Sen. Franklin Drilon over oligarchy allegations and calls for Congress to pass pertinent measures, President Rodrigo Duterte in his fifth State of the National Address (SONA), called for the revival of the death penalty by lethal injection to curve illegal drug trade in the country.
[READ: The most relatable quotes from Duterte’s 5th SONA and what they really mean]“I reiterate the swift passage of the law reviving the death penalty by lethal injection for crimes specified under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002,” the president said.
The pronouncement was initially not met warmly among the present lawmakers. It took Duterte jokingly saying “I did not hear so much clapping so I presume that they are not interested” for some of them to respond.
But outside of Batasang Pambansa and a day after, Duterte seemed to have gotten a supporter in the person of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director general Wilkins Villanueva.
In a statement expressing the agency’s support of Duterte’s call posted on Tuesday on PDEA Top Stories Facebook page, Villanueva said “The absence of capital punishment is favorable for drug peddlers who continue their nefarious activities despite being in detention.”
The PDEA chief, however, was quick to assure the public and critics that the death penalty by lethal injection will only be for bigtime drug traffickers and not small street drug peddlers. In fact, he even suggested a threshold by which authorities can determine who gets to be administered lethal injection: “I strongly suggest that seized drugs weighing one kilogram or more should be the threshold amount.”
“PDEA believes that foreign and local drug offenders, including drug protectors and coddlers who were found guilty of manufacturing, trafficking, and pushing of dangerous drugs, warrant capital punishment,” the statement read.
The agency also flaunted its successful interception of drug transactions inside the national penitentiaries involving convicted high-profile inmates, who according to Villanueva “have found ways to communicate with the outside world one way or the other, and give direct orders to people involved in the illegal drug trade.”
Header photo by Jigger J. Jerusalem/Philippine News Agency
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