One national newspaper proclaimed that the Philippine nation was in a state of mourning when China went on to execute the three Filipino drug mules last week.
That may have been an overstatement as no survey was cited to prove that conclusion. But whether you agree with that or not, you have to recognize the seriousness of the drug problem in the country today.
The drug problem affects all sectors of society – from the high and mighty to the lowly. Just recently, a member of the House of Representatives was sentenced to a jail term and a fine in Hong Kong for drug possession.
These high-profile convictions (not from a Philippine court at that) are few and far between. There are hundreds more who languish in jail because they do not have money to get a good lawyer.
This has prompted RTC Judge Rafael Crescencio Tan of the Special Drugs Court, to challenge the police to catch the bigger fish in the illegal drugs trade. He said it breaks his heart to see poor drug offenders go to jail while the ones who pushed them to sell drugs remain scot-free.
The other side to winning the drug problem is by strengthening the prosecution arm to ensure a better conviction rate. Many cases against drug suspects are dismissed because the prosecution did not properly build up its case or was careless with their evidence.
Our authorities have to be better in doing their thing if we want to see a higher conviction rate in the government’s anti-drug program. If more and more drug suspects remain free, we might someday be truly in a state of mourning.