Tending Life, the book, was launched in late June by the Anti-Death Penalty Task Force—a coalition of 10 organizations that includes the Free Legal Assistance Group, the Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the Episcopal Commission on Prison-Pastoral Care-Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service Foundation, Inc., the Samahan ng mga Pamilya sa Death Row (now called Samahan ng mga Pamilya ng mga Bilanggo), the DNA Analysis Laboratory, Natural Sciences Research Institute, University of the Philippines, the Commission on Human Rights, NoBox Transitions Foundation Inc., Developmental Legal Advocacy Clinic of the De La Salle University College of Law, and UP-Paralegal Volunteers Organization.
It’s a series of papers on the right to life, all products of a forum on drug policy in the context of this administration’s war on drugs.
Fr. Manuel Francisco talks about balancing justice and mercy in the context of the Catholic Church’s teaching on the death penalty.
“Justice entails that individuals be held accountable; nonetheless, mercy demands that they be treated as human beings,” he says.
In their paper on the use of forensic science in challenging environments, forensic scientist Maria Corazon de Ungria and lawyer Jose Jose say that despite the existence of three laboratories (DNA Analysis Laboratory in UP Diliman, Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory, and the National Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory) which have the capability to do forensic work, using forensic DNA as a tool has not yet been made part of routine investigations.
There are many applications of the technology—kinship analysis, criminal investigation, disaster victim identification. Ultimately, they say, science should be “used in the service of Philippine society in respecting, protecting and upholding the fundamental rights of all, regardless of social class or economic status, and in defending human life.”
UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard reflects on the undermining of equality, dignity and accountability, and says the rejection of human rights is predicated on a rejection of our common humanity.
Columbia University psychology professor Carl Hart delves deeper into the effect of drugs on the brain and behavior and dispels commonly-held myths about drug use.
John Collins, executive director of the International Drug Policy unit of the London School of Economics, argues how the “war on drugs” has been a globally discredited strategy that could only destroy the legal, political and socio-economic fiber of the nation.
Pascal Tanguay, a Canadian expert, talks about the lessons he saw and experienced in Thailand when it dealt with its own drug problem. Evidence from Thailand shows that “the negative consequences far outweigh the minuscule and ephemeral benefits that can be achieved.”
Finally, Lisa Sanchez, co-founder of the youth-led, Mexico-based Drug Policy and Harm Reduction Programme of Espolea, shares how civil society organizations are recommending policies including alternatives to incarceration, education of service providers and workers toward a human rights approach, and a decriminalization bill releasing thousands of people from prison and directing them to the public health system.
•••
And then there is tending life—the philosophy and the practice.
FLAG’s Maria Socorro “Cookie” Diokno says she harbors no illusion that she and her colleagues are out to “save the world.” She has been in the cause since 1976, well into the martial law days, and has seen the imposition of the death penalty in 1993 and its abolition in 2006.
For example, in the 1990s, FLAG handled 227 death penalty cases, challenging convictions before the Supreme Court. In some cases, they lost—and their clients were executed anyway.
In other cases they were able to reduce the sentence, or get the case remanded to trial court, or win an outright acquittal.
Years hence, FLAG’s stance against the death penalty has not wavered: It violates the fundamental right to life, it is not a deterrent to crime, it is cruel and inhuman, and it is anti-poor.
The task force reconvened in 2016 just before President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office. They are now on guard against moves to bring back capital punishment and has been conducting forums on the government’s drug policy.
The bill was passed under a Pantaleon Alvarez-led House of Representatives, even as the current Speaker, Gloria Arroyo, is opposed to it. Meanwhile, the bill is pending in the Senate, now headed by Vicente Sotto III who has expressed support for the death penalty even as he has styled himself as pro-life.
Another supporter of the proposal to bring back capital punishment is the widely popular boxer-turned-senator Manny Pacquiao, who said God himself approved the death penalty.
Still, the task force is embracing a larger perspective of life, an effort bigger than blocking moves to restore the death penalty. It is doing its part with regard to the killings of drug suspects, priests, journalists, local officials, tambays.
In her work, Diokno observes how people have become so scared to speak out, much less file cases against those whom they believe had a hand in their loved one’s killing. “Sometimes just to send a threatening message, the killers actually show up at the wake.”
She also realizes that the approach they took years ago may not necessarily be enough in today’s context. “Now you have trolls, bashers, bullies online and this gives a new dimension to our work.”
What she is worried about is that people are not thinking critically and asking the right questions. “But look at all our heroes. They were smart. We are a nation of smart people—why did we become lazy? Why are we content with the spoon-fed information that we are receiving?”
Now Diokno wants to go against the mentality that it is all right for some people to be killed because “tambay lang yan, or durugista lang yan. We are always so happy when we see a baby…but what if that baby grows into somebody we don’t like the looks of? Or the smell of? Does it make their life less valuable than ours?”
As a veteran of the cause, Diokno says she is used to failure. “It does not stop us, though —we do what we do in the best way we can.”
She hopes the book will be read by policy makers—legislators, health officials, anti-drug officials. “Who knows? Somebody may just read it, and start thinking for himself or herself and not just accept the information that is being provided.”
“If we make a difference in just one person at a time, then that is good enough for us,” she says.
adellechua@gmail.com
