We might as well put "Welcome to drug traffickers" instead of the warning "Death to drug traffickers" on Immigration disembarkation cards.  With one single stroke of a pen, GMA simply made a big joke of Republic Act 7659 or the Death Penalty Law.  People are simply appalled at this act of "wholesale" commutation because GMA is obviously set to commute the sentences of all 1,200-plus death row convicts even without reviewing the merits of each case.

As pointed out by Dean Andres Bautista of the FEU Institute of Law, GMA has shown complete disregard for the Supreme Court by summarily commuting all death penalties to life imprisonment.  Technically, you have to study the merits of each case first, and the death sentence has to be upheld by the Supreme Court before the president can commute it to life imprisonment.  GMA's "mass" action is like shooting from the hip, and it doesn't look to me like God told her to make this hasty decision.

Under RA 7659, certain heinous crimes are punishable by death and these include murder, rape, kidnapping and illegal drug trafficking.  But as correctly pointed out by Congressman Prospero Nograles, a GMA ally, drug-related cases are even more serious than rape or murder because drugs can wreak havoc on an entire country, not just an individual.

It's a fact that a lot of rape, murder and even robbery cases were committed by criminals high on drugs.  By arbitrarily commuting the death sentence on criminals convicted of drug-related crimes, it's like we have just rolled out the welcome mat for drug traffickers.

Even the international community was caught unawares, especially because everybody knows that terrorists source part or their funds from the illegal drugs trade.  The US is naturally concerned about the link between illegal drugs and terrorism as terrorists can kill 3,000 people in one fell swoop like what happened in 9 /11.

There are even reports that Abu Sayyaf members are high on drugs while they commit their dastardly acts, and not at all surprising because it has been reported that the ASG runs a protection racket for international drug syndicates.  According to the US State Department's 2006 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), the Philippines is "a drug smuggler's paradise," and the illegal drugs trade in this country has become a billion-dollar industry through the years.

Now we can even add to this infamy by having the Philippines entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest number of mass commutations of the death sentence under the category, "The Biggest Legal Joke in the World."

In 1972, when Marcos declared Martial Law, one of the first things he did was to have a known drug manufacturer Lim Seng publicly executed by musketry.  There was no doubt that that single act has prevented illegal drug manufacturers and traffickers from operating for many years.

Of course, it was also a well-known fact that Marcos used the execution to intimidate people and toe the line.  Today, the facts are clear.  The INCSR reported that narcotics worth approximately $85 million were seized in 2005 and some 15,268 people were arrested for drug-related crimes, with some 10,241 drug cases eventually filed.  But the numbers are much higher.

The fight against drugs is being intensified in countries like Malaysia and Singapore—where the death penalty is a mandatory punishment for drug-related cases.  And these countries are succeeding because they have adopted the "zero tolerance" policy for drug offenders, implementing the death penalty despite pressure from the international community.  The fact of the matter is, it's usually foreigners who are the ones bringing in drugs into a country—that's why we have the warning "Death to drug traffickers" on the Immigration disembarkation cards.

Today, it has become a big joke.  A Filipino who gets caught bringing in drugs into countries like Malaysia, Singapore or even Thailand—will not get a pardon or commutation no matter how much we protest it.  Take the case of Flor Contemplacion who was not even a drug trafficker, but who killed her employer.  No amount of outcry could save her.  In fact, it cost the ouster of the Philippine Foreign Secretary then.

Here in the Philippines, GMA says we have to be "compassionate" to these death row convicts.  What about compassion for those who have been murdered by drug-crazed criminals?  What about compassion for hapless children whose parents were killed by these murderers?  What about compassion for grieving mothers whose sons were mercilessly stabbed to death by cellphone snatchers high on shabu?  What about compassion for the 14-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped by her stepfather because of drugs?  What about compassion for a wife who was repeatedly beaten up by her "druggie" husband, which finally drove her to kill herself?

Psychologists have said that many victims continue to suffer the nightmare as they repeatedly play the crime over and over again in their minds.  For as long as the perpetrator is alive, there will be a constant reminder of the crime and the fear that it can happen again remains.  For many, closure will only occur when the perpetrator is already dead.

No matter what they say about Joseph Estrada, at least he acted like a true president when he unequivocally implemented the law, pushing through with the death sentence of Leo Echegaray, the first one to die by lethal injection.  If one could remember, only seven convicts have been put to death after the re-imposition of the death penalty in 1994, and all these happened during the term of Joseph Estrada.

Erap was one of those who believed that the only way the death sentence could be commuted is when you change the law.  For someone as intelligent as GMA, she seems to have missed the basics.  What is surprising about Mrs. Arroyo is that she of all people should know the effect of drugs.  She has seen some of her own in-laws who were victims of drug pushers, and whose lives have been destroyed or almost destroyed.  I myself personally know many people whose lives have been destroyed by drugs.  Some of them were even friends of mine.  In fact, one of them whom I knew to be a good person—died at a young age because of drugs.

At the rate people are literally getting away with murder in this country, crime is indeed beginning to pay.  The irony is that this commutation could be the biggest crime that GMA may have committed—a crime which she may ultimately have to pay with a very high price.

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