Drug mules

EDITORIAL

The execution of the three Filipino drug mules in China should serve that the illegal drug industry is indeed proliferating and traces a network in illegal drug trafficking.

With the deaths of Elizabeth Batain, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva and Ramon Credo, the government, albeit belatedly, said it will intensify measures to prevent more Filipinos from being recruited as mules by international drug rings.

Filipinos, especially women, are in prison even in South America for serving as drug mules. Following the executions, sources have revealed some of those imprisoned in China come the Ilocos, Cagayan and Cordillera regions for various offenses.

It is not farfetched when news would be announced sooner or later that some of them are up for execution for being illegal drug mules.

The Chinese government had repeatedly told the Philippines there would be no commutation of sentences of those convicted by its highest court. Their laws are equally applied, the Chinese said, and their laws penalize trafficking of at least 50 grams of prohibited drugs with death.

The toughest measures must be directed against the recruiters. The country has cooperation agreements with other countries in fighting transnational crime, so it’s possible to go after foreign-based groups that lure Filipinos to serve as drug mules.

In our own backyard, the government needs to boost anti-narcotics efforts, considering that even law enforcers are involved in the illegal trade. The country has gained notoriety for being an international transshipment point for prohibited drugs including heroin, and a manufacturing base for synthetic drugs particularly shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride.

The Cordillera had also been tagged as the marijuana capital of the Far East owing to numerous plantations of the hemp in the region. Raids on shabu laboratories, like the recent one in Naguillan, La Union rarely lead to the arrest of the drug dealers, raising suspicion they enjoy protection of law enforcers. Those who do get caught and are prosecuted are often freed by corrupt judges while several notorious suspects have managed to escape.

Drug trafficking poses a serious menace to society. Drug abuse can kill, destroy families and the future of youths. Some of the most atrocious crimes have been committed by people high on drugs.

The menace posed by drug abuse is so grave that drug trafficking warrants capital punishment in several other countries apart from China. The realization that drugs destroy lives should be the biggest deterrent to serving as a drug mule. Meanwhile, corrupt law enforcers who connive or themselves involved in the illegal drug trade should be unmasked and made to face the full force of the law.