THE Justice department on Tuesday asked the House sub-justice committee on judicial reforms to be given more time to defend its proposal to reimpose death penalty in the country.
Appearing before the panel presided by Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre was having a hard time answering queries from Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman as to whether capital punishment has been proven effective to deter heinous crimes.
“[As of the moment], I have no empirical data to measure the reaction of people to show that because of this fear of the penalty, the commission of crime will be less,” Aguirre told the House panel.
But he said based on his personal experience, people would be discouraged from committing crimes when they know the death penalty is in effect and will be imposed commensurate to the gravity of crimes they commit.
Lagman stressed Congress needs to have cold data and hard statistics on the proposal to reimpose death penalty “so we can validate statements truly after execution cases of drug trafficking and drug abuse has decrease,” Lagman said.
There should “verifiable evidence,” Lagman said.
Aguirre also said that death penalty was not actually abolished but merely suspended.
“It’s always there.. it was not abolished… and that it may be reimposed where there are compelling reasons,” Aguirre said.
One of the sub-committee members, Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting, said the death penalty should be studied well.
“Does Government have the right to take away the life of a human being, especially with our flawed justice system. Won’t it be anti poor? Will the rich who can leave the country and hire expensive lawyers, get away with it?” Tambunting said as he asked several questions to be considered by Congress before passing a proposal to revive death penalty on heinous crimes.
Veloso had earlier stressed the need for Congress to conduct extensive hearings on death penalty, saying restoring the penalty of death on heinous crimes involves administration of justice.
He also cited the Constitution and jurisprudence relative to the deliberation on the death penalty proposals.