Bill seeks to amend Dangerous Drugs Law

MANILA, Philippines - A legislator is now pushing for the passage of a bill in Congress which seeks to penalize drug offenders with life imprisonment regardless of quantity and quality of the illegal drugs seized from them.

Quezon Rep. Aleta Suarez said House Bill 4150, which amends the current Dangerous Drugs Act, also imposes a fine ranging from P1 million to P10 million to anyone convicted of illegal drug raps and classify the possession of dangerous drugs as a non-bailable offense.

Suarez said there is a need to amend RA 9165 to respond to the evolving modus operanda of drug syndicates and to aid in the prosecution of drug cases.

She noted it is now widely reported that drug syndicates have resorted to selling prohibited drugs using the “tingi-tingi” method to circumvent criminal responsibility.

“The ‘tingi-tingi’ method is a devious way of circumventing criminal responsibility by selling prohibited materials below the cut-off volume as set in the Dangerous Drugs Act,” Suarez said.

To aid in the prosecution of drug cases, she said it is essential that the State would have possession of the accused, hence possession of dangerous drugs should be classified as a non-bailable offense.

She said the drug problem seemed growing worst, as evidence by the growing number of prisoners in jails and prison cells due to drug-related crimes.

“This was revealed by an earlier news report where former Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolf Azcuna, citing statistics from the Office of the Court Administrator, declared that more than half of the criminal cases tried by the courts were drug-related and as a result, our jails are filled with drug suspects,” Suarez added.j

In 2012, she said a United Nations (UN) World Drug report tagged the country as having the highest shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) abuse rate in East Asia.

“This alarming fact was supported by the data from the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) for the same year, stating an estimated 1.7 million Filipinos are hooked on drugs, representing an increase of 200,000 from the number of drug users compared to 2010,” said Suarez.

At present, Section 11 of RA 9165 provides certain penalties on a person, depending on the quantity of dangerous drugs he is illegally in possession of.