CBCP: Death penalty won't solve illegal drugs problem

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday urged Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri and Dangerous Drugs Board Chairman Vicente Sotto III to think of other ways to solve the illegal drugs problem in the country aside from pushing for the revival of death penalty for drug traffickers.

In an interview over Radio Veritas, Rodolfo Diamante, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care, also urged some politicians and government officials not to use death penalty as diversionary tactic to cover the issue of corruption in the country.

“There was a diversion from the real issue. What they should look at is why these people (drug pushers) are not being arrested? The problem is, there is bribery from the start,” Diamante said in Filipino.

The call for the restoration of the death penalty stemmed from the allegations of bribery on justice and anti-narcotics agents involving the so-called “Alabang Boys.”

He said death penalty is not a solution to the country’s growing problem with illegal drugs but a strong judicial system.

He said a dysfunctional judicial system and police force are among the reasons for the growing drug menace in the country.

He said drug traffickers remain active than ever before because the judicial system and police agencies are not working effectively.

“The system is weak. It’s prone to corruption and so it loses credibility. That is why the people get bold to commit crime because they know they can buy the system,” he said.

Sotto earlier said that the death penalty is not anti-poor and it would deter crime by preventing imprisoned drug dealers from continuing their businesses.

Senators Panfilo Lacson and Zubiri, on the other hand, said they would push for Senate Bill 2322 or “An Act Reimposing the Penalty of Death on Certain Heinous Crimes,” which the latter filed last year after a spate of killings occurred in various parts of the country.

Zubiri said there must be a way to instill fear among drug traffickers because putting them behind bars did not seem to remedy the problem of illegal drugs.

“Convicted drug traffickers should be executed. Jail term doesn’t work because they could still operate inside prison facilities using mobile phones,” he said.

Reforms not capital punishment

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza also agreed that the system is defective, but he opposed such moves to restore capital punishment and instead called for reforms in the country’s justice system as a “genuine solution to crime.”

Atienza, a staunch pro-life advocate, insisted that reinstating the capital punishment would only lead to the commission of “more and much bigger crimes and injustices.”

“We have a defective justice system and reforms must be enacted, especially on the implementation of our already existing laws. Authority, power, and wealth still influence and abuse many juridical decisions,” he said. – With Katherine Adraneda, Jaime Laude