CAPITAL PUNISHMENT | Opposition lawmakers resist calls to revive death penalty

December 22, 2020 , 07:16 PM

(December 22, 2020) – Minority lawmakers from the lower chamber of Congress on Tuesday expressed strong position against resurrecting the death penalty amid growing calls from pro-administration solons in the light of the gruesome double murder in Tarlac.

Members of the Makabayan bloc in Congress, in separate statements, said the death penalty will not give justice to victims of police brutality. It would, in fact, impose a harsh punishment that could only target the poor.

For instance, Bayan Muna Congressman Ferdinand Gaite said the government should instead fix the long-standing ills in the justice system that have remained unchecked for so long.

“This impunity and disregard for the rule of law cannot be remedied by death penalty but with our return to the reign of justice,” Gaite said. “This could start by resolving the numerous cases of extrajudicial killings and by ending state-sponsored attacks on the people.”

Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago, and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro joined the chorus behind Gaite’s call, pointing to the need for high-ranking officials to be held accountable in crimes committed against innocent civilians.

“As long as the Duterte administration promotes a militarist and fascist approach to the nation’s problems, the culture of impunity and the oppression of the masses will continue,” Elago said.

The solons issued these statements after some lawmakers allied with President Rodrigo Duterte pushed for the reimposition of death penalty given the heinous crime that Sergeant Jonel Nuezca did.

Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, a former national police chief, said the proposed measure could have deterred Nuezca from killing his unarmed neighbors.

“Sino pa ang gustong pumatay ng tao kung alam niyang papatayin din siya via death penalty,” Dela Rosa told reporters on Tuesday. “That rouge cop deserves death penalty.”

Though Dela Rosa’s proposal under Senate Bill No. 226 only covers high-level drug trafficking suspects, he said suspects of heinous crimes can likewise be punished if all proposals related to the reimposition of death penalty will be consolidated into a single bill.

Senate President Tito Sotto, Senators Christopher “Bong” Go, Panfilo Lacson, Manny Pacquiao, Sherwin Gatchalian, Imee Marcos, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. have also filed similar bills to restore the death penalty, which was abolished by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before he traveled to Rome and met the Pope.

“This is one compelling case for the reinstitution of the death penalty,” Revilla said. “Hindi ka tao kung magagawa mong pumatay nang ganun lang, at sa harap pa mismo ng iyong anak. Tapos lalakad lang kayo palayo na parang walang nangyari.”

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This line of thinking, however, could barely do anything if the powers-that-be continue to allow for the culture of violence to persist, according to the small opposition bloc.

Another lawmaker, Albay Congressman Edcel Lagman, supported the Makabayan bloc’s call, saying that reimposing death penalty would never be the solution, “but the dismantling of the culture of violence which no less than the Duterte administration has encouraged, tolerated and condoned.”

(Beatrice Puente/MM)

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