AS THE House of Representatives is set to begin its floor debates on the proposal to revive death penalty, an oppposition stalwart warned of “a deluge of tokhangs-for-ransom and hulidaps” by rotten police officers once the bill is enacted.
House senior deputy minority leader and Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza maintained that death penalty would never be a deterrent to heinous crimes.
“You can count on it. Corrupt police officers engaged in all sorts of criminal activities will have a heyday. They will use the mere threat of death sentences to get whatever they want from their targets—from their victims. We will have more cases like those of Korean business executive Jee Ick Joo,” Atienza said.
A group of Philippine National Police officers seized Jee from his home in Angeles City and then brought him to Camp Crame, where he was brutally strangled to death by SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, in a case of “tokhang-for-ransom,” according to evidence presented at a Senate hearing.
Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Sta. Isabel has professed innocence, claiming he was being set up by his unit leader, Supt. Rafael Dumlao III, of the PNP’s Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, who is now under restrictive custody.
“Right now, even without the death penalty, we are already witness to the rampant abuse of police powers by crooked officers. The problem is bound to get worse once we have the death penalty,” Atienza said.
He added: “Camp Crame itself claims that more than 6,000 officers are involved in the illegal drug trade. That is an understatement. What about the officers tied up in extortion and protection rackets, kidnapping-for ransom, robbery, carjacking, murder-for-hire, illegal gambling and other criminal activities?”
“Violent crime is thriving not because of the absence of the death penalty, but because law enforcement has been overwhelmed by corruption. Instead of fighting hooligans, many officers are themselves wrapped up in all sorts of felonious undertakings,” Atienza said.
“The death penalty won’t address rampant crime. On the contrary, it could spur more crime, particularly by those perpetrated by depraved officers,” Atienza said.
In the Senate, Senator Risa Hontiveros of Akbayan has warned the reimposition of death penalty along with extrajudicial killings would create a new wave of fear among Filipinos.
“Extrajudicial killings together with constitutional killing brought about by death penalty will only add to the growing climate of fear and impunity in the country. It will further undermine the people’s human rights, particularly the right to life,” Hontiveros told leaders of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches on Friday.
The neophyte senator explained the government’s plan to reimpose the death penalty contradicted its supposed rehabilitation and reformation programs for convicted drug users and criminals.
“The broad scope of crimes punishable by death, including the mere possession of illegal drugs, is extremely bothering. What is therefore the point of building a mega-drug rehabilitation center in Nueva Ecija if the government wants all the drug dependents killed anyway?
Hontiveros, who has publicly denounced death penalty, also said she could not imagine how the death penalty would work under the country’s weak justice system which was prone to abuse and corruption.
“According to government data, from 1993 to 2004, 71 percent of death penalty convictions have either been modified or revoked. This comes from an automatic review of the Supreme Court. Now imagine if the review procedure was not there? How many innocent lives would have been lost?” Hontiveros asked.
She said one of the best ways to protect the people from crime was to radically reform the country’s justice system.
“Proper and modern law enforcement, including standing behind the protection of human rights and observance of the rule of law, are the best methods to protect the people from crime and illegal drugs,” she added.
She noted that a fast, fair and working justice system was the more effective deterrent against crime.
In the House, Atienza also called for “the total overhaul of law enforcement and comprehensive reforms in the entire criminal justice system.”
President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to execute five to six lawbreakers every day once Congress renews the death penalty.
The Lower House is set to tackle next week in plenary session the proposed death penalty bill principally authored by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.