FORMER Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and now incoming Senator Ronald Dela Rosa said Wednesday, June 26, he wanted public execution of suspects convicted of drug trafficking.
In an interview in Camp Crame, Dela Rosa said he will push for death penalty to become a law for cases related to drug trafficking.
“Hindi naman lahat (ng crimes). As I have said, hindi kasama dyan ‘yung small time na drug peddler, drug pusher o kaya drug user lang, hindi kasama dyan. Ang aking version ng death penalty is for drug trafficking, ito ‘yung mga drug traffickers na nagpapabaha sa ating bansa so puwede natin gawan ng ceiling like for example, if you are caught in possession of at least one kilo of shabu, you are classified as drug trafficker, puwedeng ganun so hindi kasama ‘yung small time. Ito ‘yung mga malalaki,” he said.
(Not all crimes. It should not include small-time drug peddlers or drug pushers and users. My version of death penalty is for drug traffickers, those who are caught in possession of one kilo of shabu, for example. Just the big-time drug peddlers.)
Asked what form of death penalty he wanted, Dela Rosa said: “Yung gawing public na maging katakot-takot sa mga tao na gumawa, para hindi pamarisan. Kung gusto mo ‘yung firing squad sa plaza covered live by media para makita ng taumbayan na hindi tayo dapat gumawa ng ganito para maging deterrent yan.”
(It should be made public, so the people will be afraid to commit the crime. It could be a firing squad covered live by media so everybody will see it, so it would be a deterrent to other people.)
Meanwhile, Dela Rosa said he is waiting for the input of the PNP in order to identify how he would be able to help the agency in his capacity as a senator.
He vowed to create a law that would benefit the national police agency.
Dela Rosa, the first implementor of the government’s bloody war on drugs, refused to make comment on the statement of the United National Commissioner for Human Rights on the "extraordinarily high casualties" in the crackdown on illegal drugs.
“Hayaan mo sila. Pakialaman ninyo ‘yung bansa ninyo, huwag nyo pakialaman ‘yung bansa ng ibang may bansa. Bakit are you sure ‘yung bansa nila walang mga dapat pansinin. Bakit nila pinapakialaman ‘yung Pilipinas. Pakialaman nila yung bansa nila huwag sila makialam sa atin,” he said. (SunStar Philippines)