THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on Wednesday said the last battleground to stop the reimposition of the death penalty would be the Supreme Court should Congress approve its reimposition.
CBCP Commission on Prison Pastoral Care Executive Secretary Rodolfo Diamante said anti-death penalty advocates would not give up easily if the controversial measure would be passed into law.
“We will go to the Supreme Court. We will exhaust all these legal means available because we believe that it [its reimposition] is unconstitutional. It is cruel. It is inhumane,” Diamante said.
In a related development:
• House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said there might be no execution under the Duterte administration once the House of Representatives passed the death penalty bill, adding the execution of the first convict might not take place in the next four years because of long court proceedings.
The CBCP and advocates are now conducting studies to build a strong case against the capital punishment.
Diamante said they were considering at least two options on how to challenge the death penalty before SC—either through death-row convicts or through lawmakers who ratified the country’s international treaty obligation against it.
Diamante said filing the objection against the reimposition of death penalty through lawmakers might be more practical since they could easily invoke the violation of the country’s commitment to the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“The argument could be possible since the country has already signed the treaty, a senator can easily claim that he/she is affected since he/she was among those that ratified it. Therefore, they can file a case before the SC,” Diamante said.
On the other hand, anti-death penalty advocates can also wait for the “test case” involving a death row convict.
“So that the case won’t be dismissed, there has to be a victim. In that sense, we can do it when a person convicted and penalized with death penalty files a case to the SC and say it is unconstitutional,” Diamante said.
Aside from the high court, he revealed that another plan was to bring the issue to the international community since the Philippines signed the ICCPR.
“We are seeking the opinion of the international community. The Philippines cannot simply withdraw unilaterally. It has repercussions. And the international community is very active in making pronouncements,” he added.
In the House, Fariñas said the death penalty bill was among the priority measures of President Rodrigo Duterte.
He said if the bill were enacted, it would not have a retroactive effect.
“…because the President has about five years and four months left, so just think how long the gestation period of a death penalty case is. It will really take time,” Fariñas said.
Reps. Rodolfo Albano III of Isabela, Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar agreed with Fariñas.
“That is correct because we have removed the mandatory penalty of death,” Evardone said.
Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting also welcomed the decision of the House leadership to keep plunder in the list of heinous crimes under the death penalty bill.
“Plunder can kill. It should be included in the list of crimes punishable by the death penalty,” Tambunting said.
Tambunting stressed that taking a huge some of money “intended for the benefit of the Filipino people should be made an offense punishable by death.”
The House is scheduled to pass the bill on Feb. 28.
Fariñas said the debates on House Bill 4727 would continue. But he said it had to be terminated if oppositors to the measure would continue to question the quorum.
After the termination of the period of interpellation, Fariñas said there would be a period of amendments, in which the lawmakers could introduce their proposed changes.
From the 21 heinous crimes, the list was narrowed down to four offenses: plunder, treason, drug-related offenses and rape.
The proposed measure provides that the judge would be given options on which mode to carry out in imposing death: lethal injection, firing squad and hanging.