A PRO-life lawmaker said Sunday he supports President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s tough anti-crime stance, but warned Congress against a “mad rush” to revive the death penalty.
Buhay Rep. Joselito Atienza said to reinstate the death penalty will not deter rampant crime.
“We want our new President to succeed in the war on crime. He deserves everybody’s help in rooting out corruption in law enforcement, the prosecution service, the judiciary and corrections,” he said.
“That killing convicts will somehow reduce crime is a false premise. On the contrary, executions will only engender a culture of violence that will in turn breed even more brutal crimes,” he said.
Duterte urged the House of Representatives to pass a law restoring the death penalty for drug offenses and other heinous crimes before the year ends.
“We maintain that the certainty of the swift capture and punishment of felons is our best deterrence to crime,” said Atienza, a former Manila mayor.
Much of the civilized world has recognized that the maximum sentence of life imprisonment can serve the ends of justice and keep the modern society safe from hardened convicts, Atienza said.
“In the years ahead, we envision a highly progressive and humane republic firmly grounded on a culture of life—on respect for the sanctity of human life. We are not dreaming of a backward and callous nation anchored on a medieval culture of death,” he said.
Atienza said at least 102 countries have already done away with executions in the last 10 years “even if the extreme punishment is still in their statutes.”
“Our peace and order campaign has long been beset by corruption, if not by ineptitude. We have to address this problem to restore public confidence in our criminal justice system. Reviving the death penalty is not the solution,” Atienza said.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, said he objected to Duterte’s plan to execute criminals by hanging and said he favored lethal injections.
“Death, especially the agony of knowing exactly when it will happen is the ultimate punishment,” Lacson said.
Incoming Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III agreed with Lacson.
In an interview over radio dwIZ on Saturday, Pimentel acknowledged Lacson’s concerns that the Senate would be unable to pass on third reading a law reinstating the death penalty within the three- to four-month timeline that he said.
“I was so optimistic about the time. Let’s make it three to five months. We have to be optimistic so that everybody will be working because there’s a deadline to meet. Five months can be the maximum as planned since a lot of things might happen along the way,” Pimentel said.
He said restoring capital punishment would be a priority bill since it is on top of Duterte’s reform agenda and is in line with his war on the drug trade.
Earlier, Lacson said Pimentel’s timeline was difficult because debates on the floor would take a long time.
Pimentel said he had no head count as yet as to how many senators support restoring the death penalty, but said they would vote by October, “win or lose.”
Senator Ralph Recto said he is opposed to the death penalty but said if it will be restored, he would push for a “sunset provision” that would allow it to last only for the duration of Duterte’s six-year term.
Senator-elect Joel Villanueva, the son of Jesus is Lord founder Eddie Villanueva, said he supports death for heinous crimes.
Seventh placer and world boxing champion, outgoing Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao said he believed the death penalty is “not wrong in the eyes of God.”
“In the eyes of God, it is not wrong. Actually the death penalty is biblical. I can explain that properly in our laws and in God’s law why there should be a death penalty,” he said.
The Palace, however, warned Sunday that the country has commitments with the United Nations against the reimposition of the death penalty, and urged lawmakers to study these thoroughly.
“The Secretary of Justice is affirming that the country has existing commitments to the United Nations and that reinstituting the death penalty is a vital policy change that needs to be thoroughly studied by the incoming administration and the 17th Congress,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in a statement.
“The people’s voice needs to be heard, too, to ascertain whether indeed the majority would like to see this come to pass,” said Coloma.
The UN may sanction the Philippines if it reimposes the death penalty, Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas said.
The incumbent Justice secretary issued the warning in the wake of incoming Duterte’s pronouncements that he will push for the revival of the death penalty as part of his campaign promise to end illegal drugs, criminality, and corruption within six months.
Caparas advised Duterte to conduct a thorough study of the matter.
“We do have international obligations, we do have commitments. And these obligations and commitments have to be reviewed as well because that will have an impact on us,” he said.
Human rights lawyer and Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) chairman Jose Manuel Diokno reminded the incoming administration that the Philippines is bound by the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was signed by the government on Sept. 20, 2006 and ratified on Nov. 20, 2007.
Caparas warned that if the country fails to uphold its end in the agreement, sanctions from the international community could include cuts in aid and international cooperation.
Duterte wants 50 convicts executed every month by hanging once Congress reimposes the death penalty, representative-elect Danilo Suarez of Quezon said Sunday.
“He feels that if at least 50 drug lords and other convicts are hanged every month, their execution will deter crime,” he told the Usaping Balita forum at the Serye Café in Quezon City.
He said Duterte revealed his plans during a meeting with 19 members of the House of Representatives led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Tuesday.
He said the nation’s next leader told them that he would like Congress to restore the death penalty within six months or before the end of the year.
He said Duterte intends to certify a capital punishment reimposition bill as urgent.