MANILA -- The head of the Philippine National Police on Wednesday backed President Rodrigo Duterte’s call for the revival of death penalty, saying it should be meted out to those caught with at least 50 grams - or about 10 teaspoons - of narcotics

The apprehension of traffickers with this amount of drugs takes “a lot of work and a lot of surveillance,” said PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa.

“You cannot just apprehend somebody ta’s ma-confiscate mo na iyong 50 grams,” he told ANC.

“Siguro maglalaro doon: 50 [grams] to 1 kilo—I think that’s enough na dapat i-impose ang death penalty,” he added.

(Perhaps it will range there: 50 grams to 1 kilo—I think that’s enough to impose the death penalty.)

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Duterte in his State of the Nation Address on Monday urged lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty by lethal injection for crimes linked to narcotics.

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Some arrested suspects said trafficking drugs in the Philippines was convenient “because there is no death penalty here,” Gamboa said.

“The reimposition of the death penalty would definitely be a deterrent in our campaign against illegal drugs,” he said.

There is no evidence that the death penalty is an effective deterrent to the drug trade, according to a study by rights group Harm Reduction International.

“Those studies are good for the legislators to ponder upon,” said Gamboa. “But on the side of the Philippine National Police, we believe that it is a deterrent.”