Rep. Cuenco to file bill hiking penalty for bribery

Cebu City south district Rep. Antonio Cuenco said he would sponsor a bill to raise the penalty of drug suspects who try to bribe law enforcers and government officials.

This as he complained that some drug enforcement personnel fix drug related cases for their own benefit at the expense of the integrity of the government.

Cuenco said that the drive against illegal drug use and trafficking will not be successful as long as enforcers are not being honest in their duty.

He pointed to certain agencies of the government such as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Department of Justice which are warring with each other and letting drug culprits, especially those who came from wealthy families, out of trouble.

Cuenco made this statement after the recent allegations by the PDEA that the DOJ accepted a P50-million bribe from parents of three boys in Metro Manila in exchange for the dismissal of charges against them.

The boys were allegedly arrested for carrying 60 tablets of ecstasy, sachets of cocaine and marijuana. 

Cuenco said that he will sponsor a bill that will amend the existing law against bribery and include also bribe takers in the charges.

From six years and one day of imprisonment, violators shall be penalized with 12 years and one day to 20 years imprisonment.

Dangerous Drugs Board Undersecretary Clarence Oaminal said that they will refile the case against former vice governor John-John Osmeña who is accused of involvement in the smuggling of pseudoephedrine.

Oaminal said that back in Australia, the three men who were linked with Osmeña were already convicted of the crime.

Cuenco said that the conviction rate for drug-related cases in the Philippines is only at 10 percent or less while in Australia it is 80 percent.

“Facts speak for itself. Justice here is slow for some reasons,” Cuenco said. –Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP(THE FREEMAN)