Friday, February 18, 2011

Why Filipino drug mules should be punished!


There's been a lot of media attention and press lately about saving Filipino criminals abroad for drug trafficking.  Am I the only one that disagrees with this?

A drug mule is someone who smuggles drugs into a country or area for a smuggling organization.

China was about to execute three Filipino drug mules, Ramon Credo, 42, Sally Villanueva, 32, and Elizabeth Batain, 38, for carrying 4,000 to 6,800 grams of heroin. They were arrested in three separate incidents in 2008.

Philippine vice president, Jejomar Binay, personally came to China this week to plead for clemency on their behalf.

China's Supreme Court apparently postponed the executions in response to the Philippines government's request, and to show gratitude in response to the Philippines' decision to skip out last December's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.  As some of you may know, the first Chinese citizen to be recognized for the Prize is a convicted criminal in China for pushing democratic reforms in the country.

Aquino: What message are you sending?
While this show of Asian diplomatic love is heart warming, I have to pose a moral question to the Philippine government.

What message are you sending? We will bow down and throw away the principles of democracy and celebration of free speech (Nobel Peace Prize) so that we can save drug traffickers that kill and injure our children?

"Oh, how did that get there?"
These criminals can't exactly claim innocence when they are transporting ~9 to ~15 pounds of drugs! I highly doubt they are "victims" as Binay claims they are. A single gram of heroin in the United States is $300 USD, so one of these mules was carrying an equivalent of over $2.04 million worth of drugs!

These type of drugs kill. From what I understand, these criminals chose to be part of the killing spree. If they are guilty, they should face the consequences and not be treated as heroes.

This is not a diplomatic triumph for the Philippines, but an embarrassment.

Stand on principles Pinoys, or we stand on nothing at all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with you Don..you're not the only one... Wowie

Anonymous said...

True, there are mules who in the first place were too naive. Wanting a big sum of money just for transporting "business parcels" so to speak. Without even realizing those parcels were indeed drugs. They must still be punished. Just so people would learn that anything involving big and easy money is too fishy.