Senate vows unrestrained death penalty debates

MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto yesterday gave assurance that debates on proposals to re-impose the death penalty will be “full-blown” and “unrestrained.”

“At whatever level, the discussions will not be abbreviated. It will be open mic (microphone) for all,” Recto said. “It has never been the Senate’s tradition to curtail the airing of ideas.”               

Debates on proposals to restore capital punishment will be tough and thorough, he said as he noted that the hardest vote a lawmaker must cast is on bills that will “send men to war or to death.”               

He agreed with his colleagues’ observation that despite its approval in the House of Representatives, the death penalty bill will not be a priority measure in the Senate.       

The reason, he said, is that there are many good measures in the Senate pipeline which came ahead and must be disposed of first. These are the Free Public College bill, the creation of Coconut Industry Development Fund, the proposed Emergency Powers Act on traffic crisis, tax break measures, women empowerment bills, the New Corporation Code, anti-money laundering measures.    

Recto believes that before the Senate tackles the business of state-sanctioned deaths, it must pass “life-improvement” measures first.  

“Let’s prioritize first laws that improve lives before those on death penalty. Improvement of lives should take precedence over death,“ he said.     

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, who is against the death penalty, said he expects the hearings on the bills to take a long time as many of his colleagues are also against it.             

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Wednesday said putting a stop to drug trafficking and other heinous crimes is more urgent and important than worrying over the country’s reputation before the international community in reimposing the death penalty.         

Pimentel was commenting on warnings raised by anti-death penalty groups on the possible repercussions if the Philippines violates its commitments in international treaties, particularly the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which committed the country not to impose capital punishment.     

“We can justify that we can never surrender our sovereignty (for international treaties). A treaty cannot tie our hands that we’d be helpless in our own country even when we have a strategy to fight crime,” Pimentel told reporters on Wednesday night. When asked about the country’s reputation if the death penalty is re-imposed, he said, “Our reputation [or] confronting this clear and present danger, which would you prefer?”    

Pimentel sees that the possible backlash may not be as bad as critics portray it.

He added that while more senators have expressed openness to Duterte’s call for Congress to reimpose capital punishment, its passage in the chamber remains a “close fight.”               

He said the move of the House of Representatives to limit capital punishment to just one crime – high-level drug trafficking – has softened the stance of some anti-death penalty senators.

‘Anti-poor’ bill

For Vice President Leni Robredo, only the poor will end up on death row, as they could not afford good defense counsels.               

She has vowed to continue opposing the passage of the death penalty bill despite its having smoothly gone through the House of Representatives amid mounting opposition from pro-life and religious groups.  

“This (death penalty bill) is anti-poor, because when you look at those who [have been] sentenced to death penalty most of them are poor who do not have access to sufficient legal assistance,” Robredo said in an interview in Cebu City yesterday. 

A 2004 research conducted by the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) showed that “71 percent of death sentences handed down by trial courts were wrongfully imposed.”              

Robredo also hit the apparent arm-twisting in the passage of the death penalty bill, noting that many House members were denied the opportunity to interpellate.    

“This was not debated thoroughly,” she said.    

Robredo, who served as a lawyer for the poor, said there are no empirical evidence to prove that death penalty is a deterrent to crime.        

Immaterial to Rody

His allies may be rushing the approval of the proposed death penalty law, but President Duterte will most likely not be able to use it, Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said yesterday.        

Duterte’s allies in Congress, according to Atienza, would do anything to pass the draft law just to please their Malacañang principal.        

“The President wants it, so they will approve it at all costs. But will he be able to use it and execute even just one or two convicts? I doubt it,” he said.        

If passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, then signed into law by the President, the death penalty bill shall apply to future convicts. – With Helen Flores, Jess Diaz, Rey Galupo