Senator warns vs narco-money in polls

Drug syndicates will finance the campaign of various political candidates in the country particularly those seeking higher elective office, Sen. Robert Barbers warned yesterday.

Barbers, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, made the statement as he expressed alarm over the seemingly unabated proliferation of illegal drugs despite the renewed crackdown by the government on narcotics.

He said that the estimated P3 billion worth of illegal drugs seized and destroyed since October last year confirms that the drug problem poses a "clear and present danger" to the economy.

"The huge amount of drug money is more than enough for drug syndicates to buy political power by financing candidates in the upcoming polls to further perpetrate their nefarious criminal activities," Barbers said.

"Drug syndicates and their cohorts in the military, police and public service should be dealt with the full force of the law," he said.

The former Surigao congressman earlier called on President Arroyo to lift the moratorium on death penalty and proceed with the execution of convicted drug offenders.

Barbers even proposed that the death convicts be executed by firing squad, similar to the fate of convicted drug dealer Lim Seng in the early years of martial law in the ’70s.

"Death by firing squad like that of notorious drug lord Lim Seng during the martial law years sent shivers to the spine of drug lords and other society low life," he said.

Barbers claimed 22 of 37 foreigners arrested in drug busts last year were Chinese, indicating that drug syndicates from China "still consider the Philippines as the main transshipment point of illegal drugs to other countries."

He said some men in uniform are frustrating the efforts of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to fight the drug menace because they are acting as protectors.

"We need no-nonsense law enforcers who will carry on the fight until we totally rid our country of prohibited drugs. I hope that the PNP leadership will consider this proposal in its upcoming revamp," Barbers said.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) officials earlier called for the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty which they said would bolster the government’s renewed campaign against illegal drugs.

PDEA chief Anselmo Avenido had said there are about 3.4 million drug users in the Philippines, mostly using shabu.

He said about 13 foreign and 175 local drug syndicates operate in the country, and police have seized about P5 billion worth of drugs and laboratory equipment and arrested 6,700 suspected pushers and traffickers over the past 10 months.

The PDEA has seized about P40 million worth of drugs since its inception August last year.

At least 11 clandestine illegal drug laboratories have been dismantled even as the agency believed there are still more illicit drug labs scattered around the country.

Officials said the country’s vast shoreline also makes it easy for drug smugglers to slip in their cargo.