Deal with them severely

A South African national was arrested at the Manila international airport for carrying 21.215 kilograms of suspected shabu crack or ice in US street parlance which would have had a street value of P144.3 million.

This is the one that didn’t get away.

It would be safe to reckon that many other drug shipments that passed through our international airports and seaports have not been intercepted by customs and anti-narcotics authorities.

The country’s porous borders make it an easy destination or transshipment point for all kinds of illegal drugs.

Corrupt law enforcers greatly contribute to the proliferation of illegal drugs in the streets, despite the past administration’s “kill, kill, kill” policy against drug traffickers and dealers.

Many of our “narcs” sell the drugs that they seize from dealers. Or they are in cahoots with or under the payroll of drug pushers and traffickers.

This columnist’s humble suggestion is for President Bongbong Marcos to create a special team within the government’s intelligence community – NICA, ISAFP, PNP and army intelligence – to monitor the activities of anti-narcotics agents suspected to be involved in drug trafficking.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the various police anti-narcotics offices and the Bureau of Customs should be closely watched.

There should be no mercy for members of the above-cited government units who monkey around with their jobs.

There should be sampolan (making an example) of law enforcers who take part in drug trafficking. If this was done, it would drive fear into the hearts of their colleagues.

I witnessed the execution of a convicted drug trafficker named Lim Seng in Fort Bonifacio, in the early days of martial law.

For a long time after that, drug pushers and peddlers lay low, until the martial law government stopped the execution of condemned criminals, apparently because of pressure from the international community.

The drug problem will continue to hound us if drug traffickers, the source of illegal drugs – and their cohorts in the police – are not dealt with severely.

The Marcos II government can learn important lessons from the previous administration, a principal one being not to appoint nincompoops to head the Philippine National Police (PNP), PDEA and the customs bureau.

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The death penalty should be restored by the new administration against persons who deal in illegal drugs, or those who sell drugs in huge quantities.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo abolished capital punishment, which was passed by Congress through an executive order.

GMA was so afraid of going to hell if she did not obey the dictates of the Catholic Church that she scratched out the death penalty from our statutes.

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Being burned in hell in the afterlife if the dictates of the Catholic Church are not followed is the primary reason legislators refuse to pass the law on divorce.

The Philippines is one of two sovereign states in the world – the Vatican being the other – that prohibits divorce.

By the way, the Vatican has no need for a divorce law, as that sovereign state is composed of priests, nuns, bishops and cardinals.

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I have a confession to make here: Many years ago, when I was still hosting the now defunct Isumbong mo kay Tulfo, I helped a14-year-old girl abort a fetus that was a product of incest.

The girl was raped by her father many times, while the mother was working abroad.

The mother pleaded with me to help her daughter, so she would not become the subject of ridicule from society and have a baby that would surely have mental and physical defects.

I consulted a doctor friend (who has since passed on). We both took pity on the girl.

If memory serves me well, my doctor friend prescribed a medicine that is supposed to cure ulcers but has adverse side effects, one of which is that it can induce an abortion.

In short, the baby was aborted.

My mistake was to write about what I did in my column in one of the previous broadsheets that I worked with.

I harvested a large amount of flak from readers, as I said mea culpa, mea culpa.

One of those who called me was a bishop (whose name I won’t mention). He said that as an official of the Catholic Church, he was going to excommunicate me, and hinted of hellfire and suffering.

“Be my guest,” I told him.

They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

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Reports reaching this columnist say that a person appointed to a key position has had a sordid past involving drugs.

Another official named to an important post used to face graft charges. How this official was able to wriggle himself or herself out of the mess is a puzzle.

And – listen to this – an official holding a Cabinet post reportedly has early signs of dementia.

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The country’s sugar shortage is artificial or induced, as a result of hoarding by some big traders of the commodity, according to Malacañang.

“The huge volume of sugar discovered by authorities in the various inspected warehouses in Luzon has led Malacañang to conclude that the sugar shortage is artificial, brought about by the hoarding of sugar traders who want to rake in huge profits from the sudden spike in sugar prices,” said the Office of the Press Secretary.

Hoarding of basic commodities to cause prices to go up during the shortage afterwards is economic sabotage.

Economic sabotage is considered a heinous crime, penalized under our laws with life imprisonment.