PDEA PROPOSES EXECUTION FOR DRUG BARONS

The execution of convicted big-time drug traffickers will be a good
deterrent against people trading in illegal drugs, the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said yesterday.

PDEA director general Anselmo Avenido Jr., in a statement, said President
Arroyo is "seriously considering" the execution of convicted drug offenders
who were meted capital punishment and whose cases have been affirmed by the
Supreme Court.

The President hinted yesterday that she may allow judicial executions to
resume as part of a high-profile campaign against illegal drugs.

"I shall make a decision on the possible reimposition of the death penalty
on the basis of moral principles and due process," she said in a statement.

"I am prepared to exercise utmost political will to beat this menace in
accord with a sound and just moral compass," she said following calls by
some groups for restoring the death penalty to help in the war on illegal
drugs.

However, Mrs. Arroyo also stressed that any revival of capital punishment
would have to include measures to ensure "that those who would be condemned
to death are indeed notorious drug lords and not small-time pushers."

The President suspended judicial executions by injection last year while
the issue of abolishing capital punishment was debated in Congress. Since
then, congressional discussions have so far failed to get the death penalty
law abolished or amended.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said last Thursday that the President
would not want to divide the nation on the issue of carrying out the death
penalty.

Bunye said it is not timely to spark extended debates on the death penalty
while the government is trying to consolidate the nation behind the war
against illegal drugs.

Avenido, however, said Mrs. Arroyo supported the idea of imposing the death
penalty during a conference of the Dangerous Drugs Board last Saturday. The
Chief Executive herself presided over the conference.

"Actually, the death penalty is in the law. What we are looking into is the
implementation," Avenido said.

He added that the President is open to the idea but has yet to receive
documents on any pending execution.

"During the meeting in Malaca=F1ang last Saturday, this was also mentioned.
What I heard from the President is that no papers have reached her office
regarding the matter, and that she said she will seriously consider
implementing the death penalty," Avenido said.

He also said the issue of the Roman Catholic Church's strong objection to
the implementation of the death penalty did not crop up during last week's
conference.

Philippine National Police Deputy Director General Edgardo Aglipay, head of
the PNP's special task force on illegal drugs, was mum on the issue.

Avenido and Aglipay led the coordinating conference between PDEA regional
directors and police intelligence representatives to map out their strategy
in the war against illegal drugs.

Aglipay said the police and PDEA have started identifying big-time drug

traffickers and forming a strategy to neutralize them within the next three
months.

Avenido said the conference enabled both agencies to consolidate efforts to
neutralize big-time drug traffickers in the country, as ordered by the
President.

"We will go for the big fishes and we will concentrate on the so-called
high-intensity areas. So once these areas are cleared, there will be
drastic effects on the drug market," he said.

The PNP, for its part, has issued guidelines on the conduct of anti-drug
operations, Aglipay said.

He reminded all field commanders tapped to participate in the anti-drug
campaign that all cases filed against suspected pushers and users should be
monitored to ensure conviction.

"We listed here the detrimental acts that can be the subject of criminal
and administrative (charges) against our people such as the planting of
evidence, `overhauling' of cases and non-appearance during court trials,"
Aglipay said.-- With reports from AFP