The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. wishes to reaffirm its full and unwavering support to the government’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs. We join the government and our law enforcement agencies in condemning and working towards eradicating the menace of illegal drugs as a moral scourge, a threat to public health and the socio-economic stability of the Philippines.
Since 2016, the FFCCCII has supported the government’s efforts to rehabilitate drug users through the donations of rehabilitation centers in Candelaria, Lucban and Mulanay, Quezon Province; Tagbilaran, Bohol province; Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte province; Mati, Davao Oriental province; and Surallah, South Cotabato province. We believe that a wholistic anti-illegal drug campaign should include rehabilitation of drug users.
We wish to clarify certain media reports which link Filipino Chinese to illegal drugs. We appeal to media and other sectors to refrain from generalizing that members of the Filipino Chinese community as peddlers of illegal drugs and inadvertently besmirching our community’s reputation. As with any community, there may be a handful of wrongdoers or bad apples but the same should not affect the rest of the community.
We want to reiterate that most, if not all of the ethnic Chinese community members in the country, are law-abiding Filipino citizens, legitimate business people and conscientious in upholding rule of law. Let us be more careful in making public statements that may unnecessarily create rancor, conflicts, misunderstanding and promote unfair stereotypes.
In this light, the FFCCCII would like to revisit discussions on proposals by many citizens on the re-imposition of the death penalty for heinous crimes, particularly for drug traffickers and pushers. We may look at our Asian neighbors like Singapore, China and Taiwan on how capital punishment has deterred the commission of heinous crimes.
We reaffirm FFCCCII’s commitment to be the government’s partner in economic and social progress.