Makes sense, before the drug cartel becomes too powerful to control, like in Mexico.  Apparently the reformatory stand of the Penal Code does not work.

Death penalty pushed anew

Manila Bulletin – Saturday, August 7

Alarmed anew by the problems posed by illegal drugs, Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said over the weekend he will push anew for the revival of death penalty, at least for drug offenders only. As former chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) during the Arroyo administration, Sotto said he was able to see the seriousness of the illegal drugs problem facing the nation which, if not addressed immediately by the present government, will put the country in a very unstable situation just like what is happening in Mexico and Colombia where drug traffickers are resisting government forces in the crackdown against illegal drugs. In Mexico alone, more than 28,000 people have been killed since the government waged an all out war against illegal drugs in the past few years and some of those killed were government forces as drug traffickers fought back government authorities. In our country, it is widely believed that the connivance of drug dealers and government officials involved in anti-drug campaign makes the problems worse.

Since he was elected as Senate majority leader again, Sotto always expressed his deep concern about our illegal drugs problems. Likewise, Sotto is pushing for the passage of a bill that would mandate the creation of a national penitentiary exclusive for those arrested on drug-related cases. Although he admits not having an exact data on the impact of death penalty on drug offenders, Sotto said he is alarmed by reports coming from drug enforcement agencies like the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that the drug offenders have become bolder. “The feeling of drug enforcers is that in the absence of death penalty, it seems that the drug traffickers have become more daring. I am still contemplating on filing a bill that will re-impose the death penalty for drug trafficking alone,” he said, recalling that he had filed a similar bill in the 9th Congress. In his bill, Sotto recommended that the Senate Committees on Local Government, on Justice and on Public Order and Illegal Drugs to conduct an inquiry on the establishment of regional penitentiaries for drug offenders and to create the Office of the National Penitentiary for Drug Offenders. To show how big is our drug-related problem, Sotto noted that drug offenders have comprised 70 percent of the inmates in city jails and the national penitentiary. “Drug offense is a special kind of crime. Thus, it requires a special rehabilitation program and security protocol for its offenders,” Sotto said. “There is an urgent and indispensible need to come up with measures to address the peculiarity of the rehabilitation and security requirement for drug offenders. That one of such measure is the establishment of Regional Penitentiary for Drug Offenders where convicts and those accused for violation of Republic Act 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 shall be detained,” Sotto said. Sotto has also filed an amendment of the Juvenile Justice Act to lower the age threshold of children who can be detained under the law. The current law provides that drug offenders who are 18 years old or below cannot be jailed and interrogated. Sotto wanted that children aged 11 and below be covered by the protection clause of the Juvenile Justice Law. Sotto also wanted to include drug use and dependency treatment to be covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth). Sotto has filed another bill that further proposes an amendment to specifically include rehabilitation treatment as among the enumerated categories of personal health services. Sotto’s concern about illegal drugs was prompted by reports over attempts by some drug syndicates to use the country as transshipment point of high-grade cocaine from South America. Sotto said he received reports from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that the recent drug bust that led to the seizure of 31 kilos of cocaine in Eastern Samar showed that the cocaine seized from local residents were part of more than one ton of cocaine shipment.