CEBU CITY—The Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO 7) is backing the call of President Duterte to revive the death penalty for illegal drug traffickers.

Police Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro said imposing the death penalty by lethal injection will help solve the country’s illegal drug problem.

Ferro said jailed drug lords have been able to continue selling illegal drugs through their contacts outside.

“Those who were convicted are in the Bureau of Correction (BuCor). Unfortunately, because there is no death penalty, they still manage to continue their illegal drugs activities. Even if we had seized hundreds and tons of shabu, there is still proliferation because these drug traffickers are really not afraid,” said Ferro.

Calling for the revival of death penalty was one of the highlights of the President’s State of the Nation Address last Monday.

“I reiterate the swift passage of the law reviving the death penalty by lethal injection for crimes specified under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002,” the President said.

Ferro likewise debunked some criticisms that the death penalty was anti-poor.

“There are a lot of people in the BuCor who are not  poor. Some of them are Chinese nationals who are involved in illegal drugs and they are not just simple or ordinary people. Not all who are in correctional facilities are poor people,” said Ferro.

Ferro said the country’s anti-illegal drug campaign was sparing no one as some high-ranking government officials, including law enforcers, were already languishing in jails for illegal drug offense.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) Cebu Chapter strongly opposed calls to revive the imposition of death penalty in the country.

“Although the reimposition of death penalty is intended to deter crimes and save children from the dangers of illegal drugs, NUPL Cebu believes that reviving the law is another anti-poor policy that would selectively target millions of helpless Filipinos, as observed in the ongoing war on drugs of the present administration and the selective enforcement of laws amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” NUPL said in a statement.

“Several studies have also shown that imposing death penalty does not completely deter crimes, as well as the existence of numerous cases of wrongly convicted persons who may be unrightfully subjected to death when the proposed measure takes effect,” it added.

Instead of reviving the death penalty, NUPL Cebu urged the President to instead call for the fixing of the justice and law enforcement systems “to assure the fair and impartial investigation and disposition of cases before implementing a legislation that is necessarily cruel and inhuman.”