EDITORIAL - Get the recruiters

As in the previous case, the latest word from China is that it is standing firm in its decision to execute a Filipino convicted of drug trafficking. The execution is set for Thursday, and the Chinese government has said there will be no postponement. The 38-year-old convict was apprehended at an airport while trying to bring into China nearly 1.5 kilograms of heroin from Malaysia in September 2008.

He will be the fourth Filipino to be executed in China this year on drug-related charges. Last March 30, drug mules Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain were executed in Xiamen and Shenzhen. Villanueva was caught with 4.1 kilos of heroin; Credo had a slightly larger amount in her possession while Batain had 6.8 kilos.

Filipinos caught transporting prohibited drugs usually claim that the packages were simply entrusted in their care or concealed in secret compartments in luggage that they were supposed to turn over to others at their destination. But 6.8 kilos is not a light weight to carry and difficult to conceal in luggage. The amounts involved indicate that the drug mules knew exactly what they were doing and believed they could get away with it.

Who duped them into believing this was possible in China, which has some of the toughest drug laws in the world, must be the targets of an international manhunt. Philippine law enforcers can tap links with the Interpol to track down the recruiters of the convicted drug mules, plus nearly 70 other Filipinos who are on China’s Death Row for drug offenses. The executions in March should serve as a deterrent for Filipinos who may be considering the fast buck to be made from trafficking drugs across national borders, but it is too late for those who have already been caught and convicted.

It is not too late, however, to go after the recruiters of drug mules. Filipinos are being arrested for drug trafficking not only in China but also in other Asian countries as well as in South America. Philippine authorities should coordinate with these countries to deal with this problem at the source. At the same time, an information campaign must be intensified to warn Filipinos that in several countries, tough drug laws are strictly enforced, all the way to the lethal injection chamber.