MANILA — An official of the Philippine National Police on Wednesday supported Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s renewed push to impose death penalty for high-level narcotics trafficking.

“If you ask my opinion, I am all for it, as a law enforcer” PNP’s Director for Operations Maj. Gen. Valeriano de Leon said of the proposal.

“That will of course make the offender think twice, not even twice but more than twice,” he said in an interview.

Dela Rosa's 20 priority measures include the revival of penalty for large-scale illegal drug traffickers, based on a list that his office released on Tuesday.

• Dela Rosa, Go to revive death penalty push

The former PNP chief who was elected senator in 2019 expressed high hopes that his new bill would finally get Congress approval, especially with Sen. Francis Tolentino set to lead the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

The panel was previously headed by former senator Richard Gordon, who was vocal against capital punishment.

• How we kill: Notes on the death penalty in the Philippines

The death penalty was abolished in the Philippines in 2006, under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in March said he was against death penalty, the revival of which his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte unsuccessfully sought.

"I think the numbers are clear. It's not [effective]," Marcos said.

"Yung mga heinous crimes, gagawin at gagawin ng kriminal yun eh," he added. "As of now, the best that we can do is to... I think the enforcement is much more important than the actual punishment and rehabilitation."

(Criminals will still commit heinous crimes.)

• Presidential bets push for judicial reform over death penalty

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