Dela Rosa pushes death penalty for high-level drug traffickers
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Thu, 04 Jul 2019 08:55:52 +0000
Neophyte Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa yesterday pushed for the passage of a death penalty law in the 18th Congress that would only cover high-level drug traffickers.
Speaking to reporters at the “Kapihan sa Senado,” Dela Rosa said part of his legislative agenda is the reimposition of the death penalty and he hopes that Christian churches and his colleagues in the Senate would be amenable to his proposal.
“Malaking tulong po ‘yun. Nung Director General ako ng Bureau of Corrections, tinanong ko ‘yung mga nasa loob ng Bilibid, lahat sila paborito ang Pilipinas na dalhan ng shabu kasi sabi nila we don’t have a death penalty here in the Philippines,” Dela Rosa said.
“Kaya gawin natin ang death penalty para matakot na sila lalo na pag natuloy ang gusto ko na death by firing squad. Tingnan natin kung sige pa sila maghakot ng drug dito,” he said.
Dela Rosa, who is reportedly heading the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, said he believes that the only way to convince his colleagues to pass the measure is to limit the death penalty to drug traffickers only.
Critics of the bill, he noted, branded the proposal as “anti-poor,” the reason why it failed to pass during the 17th Congress.
“Hindi naipasa noon dahil sabi anti-poor. Wala naman drug trafficker na mahirap eh, big-time ang mga ito. So I expect support from my colleagues, I hope they support me,” Dela Rosa said. (Hannah Torregoza)