Philippine legislators joined their Southeast Asian counterparts Wednesday in urging the Duterte administration to rethink its position on reinstating capital punishment.
At a news conference, members of the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights and local lawmakers warned that reintroducing the death penalty abolished in 2006 “would mark a significant step backward for the Philippines” as this would go against the country’s international commitments and would only victimize the poor.
“As lawmakers from across Southeast Asia, we stand opposed to the reintroduction of capital punishment in the Philippines, and we urge our counterparts in the Philippine Congress to reject the bill currently before them that would legalize the practice,” the APHR members’ solidarity statement said.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder with those Philippine legislators who are fighting this bill, and support them in their principled struggle, which is based on strong evidence this policy is wrong for the country.
“The death penalty is a barbaric and outdated form of punishment, and represents the kind of policy our region should be moving away from, not back toward,” they added.
“The bill currently before the House of Representatives puts the Philippines’ international credibility at risk, as well as the stunning progress made in the past decade toward the eradication of capital punishment globally.”
Cambodian member of parliament Mu Sochua, an APHR board member and one of the signatories to the solidarity statement, said the Philippines must keep its current position having the death penalty abolished.
“In Cambodia, we have been forced to deal with the brutal legacies of state-sanctioned killing, which is why our Constitution—like that of the Philippines—outlawed the death penalty. Abolishing capital punishment was the right choice for the Philippines and for Cambodia. We must move forward as a region, not back,” Mu Sochua said.
Local lawmakers led by Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay, Tom Villarin of Akbayan, and Teddy Baguilat Jr. of Ifugao renewed their appeal to the House leadership to reject the bill.
Villarin said the death penalty bill “is wrong for the Philippines and wrong for the region.”
“All the evidence suggests that reintroducing capital punishment will have no clear effect on crime, while victimizing poor Filipinos. The Philippines has twice abolished the death penalty since the end of the Marcos dictatorship. Let us not revive a policy that has not proven to be any deterrence to crime,” he stressed.
Villarin also said reinstituting the death penalty “means another offensive in the Philippines’ war on the poor.”
“When it comes to handing down death sentences, the poor suffer disproportionately because they cannot afford to compete in our pay-to-play legal system,” he added.
Congress is currently deliberating House Bill 4727, or the proposed reimposition of capital punishment authored by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
The bill would allow for the death penalty to be imposed for 21 heinous crimes, including some forms of murder and rape, as well as treason, plunder, and nine drug offenses. The bill notes that the importation, sale, manufacture, cultivation, and possession of drugs in quantities as low as 10 grams for methamphetamines and marijuana oil are all punishable by death.
The lawmakers believe the bill, once enacted, would violate the Philippines’ international legal obligations under the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the country ratified in 2007 and commits it to the perpetual abolition of capital punishment within its borders.
Baguilat said the death penalty “is morally wrong and goes against fundamental human rights, including the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment.”
“On top of that, it would violate our international commitments to revive capital punishment, which could jeopardize our international standing and economic growth. There is simply no compelling reason to revive this form of punishment, and the potential negative repercussions are enormous,” he said.
Instead of pushing to revive the death penalty, Lagman said the Philippine government must be able to address the root causes of crime and drug use. He also stressed the need to prioritize reform of key institutions in the criminal justice system, including the police and the judiciary.
“Particularly given the flaws so obvious today in our criminal justice system, it’s clear that the death penalty is not a sustainable path toward building a safer and more prosperous nation,” said Lagman, principal author of Republic Act 9346, prohibiting the imposition of the death penalty back in 2006.
“We should be focused on reforming and strengthening the justice system, combatting corruption, and addressing core economic and social woes that lead to crime and drug use. Reviving capital punishment accomplishes none of those goals,” he added.
Malaysian MP Kasthuri Patto said parliamentarians from across the region believe in the cause of death penalty abolition, despite the actions of some of their governments.
“Although several Southeast Asian countries—including mine—have yet to abolish the death penalty, there are strong movements that support the goal of abolition among MPs, statesmen, and civil society in and around this region,” she said.
“As defenders of human rights, we have looked to the Philippines for guidance in this struggle. We hope that your country will continue to provide this important form of moral leadership for the Asean region and support the right to life.
“Laws and policies in every Asean country, in relation to human rights and particularly on the abolition of the death penalty, will naturally have a huge forcible and affirmative snowball effect in the region.”
While the Philippines and Cambodia are the only ASEAN member states to have legally abolished capital punishment, Laos, Myanmar, and Brunei Darussalam are considered abolitionist in practice, having not executed anyone in the past 25 years. In addition, Asean observer state Timor-Leste has legally abolished the death penalty.
Five Asean member states—Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—retain capital punishment.