BUREAU of Corrections (BuCor) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa reiterated his call for the return and expansion of the death penalty for people convicted of illegal drugs charges.
In a visit to Baguio City to meet with students of the National Institute for Information Technology (NIIT) on the sustainable programs against illegal drugs and peace promotion, the corrections chief said it does not matter whether the guilty just possessed illegal drugs or managed a drug empire, they should go straight to their death beds.
“Prior to my assignment as corrections chief, the apprehensions done against those involved in illegal drugs outside the corrections bureau were coming from inside the corrections facility, so what we did was to segregate 160 Chinese personalities from their Filipino counterpart to stop the transactions they were conducting,” Dela Rosa said.
In his stint as corrections chief, Dela Rosa noted the presence of marijuana transactions between the Chinese and Filipinos but still indicated shabu as the leading drug of choice.
“Not so much on marijuana but more on shabu because of the return of investment between the two illegal drugs, most likely if there were transactions of marijuana, it may have likely came from the Cordillera region,” the corrections chief stated.
At present, a controversial House bill already approved on 3rd and final reading allows death penalty only for drug convicts of seven particular offenses.
When asked on what he would pursue once he reaches the senate, Dela Rosa said aside from the death penalty, he would look into returning the training of PNP personnel to the organization and the strict regulation on the acquisition of SIM cards.
“I will also focus on a bill returning the training of police personnel to the PNP since this is very important for the discipline of our police force, aside from the use of post paid SIM cards instead of prepaid so that it would be easy to monitor criminal elements involved in illegal activities,” Dela Rosa added.
During his incumbency as PNP Chief, Dela Rosa was the face of the Duterte administration's anti-illegal drug campaign.