Erap says revival of death penalty vs drug lords should be studied

CEBU CITY — Coming on the heels of a United States report that the so-called narco-politics would affect the May 10 polls, former President Joseph Estrada on Thursday said the reimposition of capital punishment should be studied to punish drug traffickers and other heinous crime offenders. "We have to study [the reimposition of death penalty] again because of what’s happening now. I would go all out against drug lords," Estrada said at a press conference at the Waterfront Hotel here. For his part, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino senatorial bet former Negros Oriental Rep. Apolinario Lozada stressed their party’s campaign is not sourced from "drug money." "There is not any taint of drug money in our campaign. Why don’t we open up the [sources of campaign funds] of all these candidates," Lozada said in the same press conference. Estrada and Lozada’s statements came amid politicians’ calls for the US State Department to identify Philippine leaders who receive money from drug lords to fund their campaigns. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has tagged Central Visayas, where Cebu is located, as the top region in the agency’s fight against illegal narcotics. Echegaray When Estrada was president in February 1999, convicted rapist Leo Echagaray was meted the death sentence. Echagaray, who was accused of raping his daughter, was the first Filipino to die by lethal injection. The death penalty law was passed in 1992 but was abolished 14 years later in 2006 by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo right before she flew to the Vatican City to have an audience with the Pope. But calls for the revival of the penalty were triggered after the bloody Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) robbery-slay in May 2008, where nine bank employees and one security guard were shot dead. The Alabang Boys controversy in January 2009 — where three scions of rich families were accused of illegal drug abuse and possession — also sparked calls to revive the death sentence. In the thick of the controversy, Mrs. Arroyo then named herself as anti-drug czar. The late Press secretary Cerge Remonde then said the President would rather map out a comprehensive plan against drugs than impose death penalty again. On Thursday, Estrada said the death penalty should also be studied so that the perpetrators behind the brutal killing of 57 people in Ampatuan, Maguindanao last year would be punished to the full extent of the law. - RSJ, GMANews.TV