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The chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs believes that the Philippines should be able to impose death penalty on foreigners who bring in illegal drugs, in the same way that foreign governments implement it against Filipinos. 

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers had this to say upon learning that China executed over the weekend two Filipino drug couriers. 

"There should be a similar punishment imposed on these foreign nationals as well as fellow Filipinos who introduce drugs into the country," he said in a statement Monday, Dec. 4.

"If other countries treat illegal drugs as a threat to their citizenry and the whole society, why are we so soft in treating this menace in our own territory?" asked Barbers, a Nacionalista Party (NP) stalwart. 

“China was firm in executing Filipinos yet we are being flooded with tons and tons of illegal drugs especialy shabu from China. It is a wonder that while China was very very hard on drug trafficking, the drugs that come to our shores originate from its ports. Yet, we have yet to see one Chinese convict being executed to deter others from commiting such heinous a crime," he pointed out. 

Death penalty in the country was abolished in 2006 during the time of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Arroyo is now a member of Congress, specifically Pampanga 2nd district representative. 

Barbers--a longftime advocate for the revival of death penalty in the Philippines--expressed his frustration over what he described as the entry of negative "exports" from China. 

"It seems that we have accepted all the exports from China, from POGOs (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) to illegal gambling and kidnapping syndicates, sleeper cells, illegal drugs and what have you. It is obvious that we have become the dumping ground of the scums in their society, yet we seem to be oblivious to the what they are doing to our country. Our eyes seem to be wide shut”. 


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Barbers recalled that during the past administration, the concentration was on the demand side, leading to the arrests and deaths of thousand of street drug pushers and users. 

“It is long overdue that we seriously train our guns on the supply side of this illegal drug trade. If we can deter the foreign suppliers, we will send a strong signal that our people are not guinea pigs of their drugs," he sad. 

"The continous inflow of drugs from China is a serious insult to our government and meant to belittle our laws, in the same way that they are not afraid of our military forces in the West Philippine Sea (WPS),” Barbers said.