Lim Seng, a Chinese businessman who led one of the Philippines’ biggest heroin syndicates in the 1960s, was arrested under the Dangerous Drugs Act for manufacturing and trafficking narcotics.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment, but with his vast connections, Lim Seng could have easily avoided serving time. To assert its authority, the Marcos I administration made an example of him. In the early morning of 15 January 1973, Lim Seng was executed by firing squad at Fort Bonifacio.

The same penalty of death by firing squad should also be applied to those found guilty of graft and corruption.

It is time to demand real penalties. A slap on the wrist, a fine, or even temporary suspension is not enough.

Those who steal from flood control funds are not just guilty of corruption, they are guilty of endangering public safety.

Their greed kills. Their theft drowns. Their corruption keeps the Philippines underwater, literally and figuratively.

If we do not impose this strict penalty, they will simply flee the country and escape real punishment. In time, their crimes will be forgotten and replaced by a new national scandal that diverts public outrage.

Meanwhile, the damage they caused remains permanent: crumbling infrastructure, wasted resources, and millions of Filipinos condemned to suffer.

The Constitution does not prohibit the imposition of the death penalty. In fact, it categorically allows it for compelling reasons such as heinous crimes.

The Supreme Court has also recognized that the death penalty is not contrary to the constitutional ban on cruel, degrading, or inhuman punishment, ruling that “punishments are cruel when they involve torture or a lingering death; but the punishment of death is not cruel, within the meaning of that word as used in the Constitution. It implies there is something inhuman and barbarous, something more than the mere extinguishment of life.”

Corruption of this kind is a heinous crime because its consequences are not confined to missing pesos on a government ledger.

It translates directly into human suffering and death, stripping communities of their right to safety and security, forcing families to rebuild their lives again and again after every flood, and condemning countless Filipinos to a cycle of displacement, disease, and despair that could have been prevented had the funds been used honestly and properly.

When funds intended for flood control are misappropriated, drainage systems remain incomplete, river dikes collapse, and abandoned projects leave communities vulnerable.

After just an hour of heavy rain, neighborhoods are submerged, crops are destroyed, livelihoods are lost, and lives are put at risk.

Children drown on their way to school, families are displaced from their homes, and disease spreads through evacuation centers.

This is not petty theft, it is large-scale plunder that robs millions of Filipinos of safety, dignity, and the basic right to live free from preventable disaster.

By diverting resources from life-saving infrastructure, corrupt officials and contractors weaponize floods against the very people they swore to serve.

If the death penalty could be imposed on a single man like Lim Seng for drugs, the same should be imposed on politicians and contractors found guilty of corruption.

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. This article is for general information and educational purposes, and not offered as, and does not constitute, legal advice or legal opinion.)