President Duterte made a renewed pitch for the restoration of the death penalty as a means to boost his administration’s campaign against drugs and criminality.

The President made the pitch during a casual meeting with several lawmakers and other government officials at a bar in Davao City over the weekend.

“It was a casual gathering with some officials, mostly congressmen and a few governors and we discussed many things since it was only a casual gathering with no set agenda,” Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said in a text message to the Manila Bulletin yesterday.

“The President mentioned he thought we should bring back the death penalty especially for drug traffickers,” Angara added.

Shortly after his victory in the May elections, Duterte declared that he prefers to hang convicted criminals instead of killing them via lethal injection amid plans to suppress crimes during his first six months in office. To critics claiming it does not deter crimes, Duterte argued that the death penalty will be more of retribution against persons who committed crimes.

Angara, pressed for his position on capital punishment, said he is ready “to listen to the several proposals for the return of the death penalty.”

The senator said the President also gave them a tour of the emergency center of Davao including the city’s crime and traffic management system.

Apart from Angara, other lawmakers who reportedly met with the President were Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Citizen’s Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) Partylist Rep. Sherwin Tugna, Palawan Rep. Franz Josef Alvarez, Masbate Rep. Scott Davies Lanete, and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco.

Duterte, a former mayor of Davao City, was back in his hometown last weekend for some personal time, a practice he apparently intends to keep during his term. The country’s new president took a commercial flight to Davao and opted for an economy seat last Friday, ditching his previous practice of riding a private plane. It was the first time Duterte took a commercial flight as president.

Earlier, the tough talking President Duterte has publicly accused five police generals for their alleged involvement in the country’s illegal drugs operations. He has ordered them relieved from their posts and ordered the National Police Commission to probe their alleged wrongdoing.

A few days later, the President unmasked the alleged Chinese triad involved in the multi billion peso drug trade in the country. Baring the “level 5” or top tier of the drug hierarchy, Duterte named a retired police general for supposedly coddling two Chinese drug lords and a local drug dealer.

He also linked many local government executives mostly mayors in the drug network but declined to identify them last week. He said some of the mayors were from Mindanao, including a female local executive.

Duterte said he may release the names of the drug coddlers in government once he has reviewed their documents against them.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Genalyn Kabiling

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