EDITORIAL - Excluded

There’s one thing that will doom efforts in Congress to restore capital punishment. It won’t be concern for human rights or the high potential for miscarriage of justice in a weak judicial system, but the proposal to include plunder among the offenses that will warrant the ultimate penalty.

Because of the pervasiveness of large-scale misuse of public funds, a new offense called plunder had to be created to differentiate it from ordinary corrupt acts. Plunder involves amounts of P50 million or higher. And who are in a position to misuse such huge amounts of people’s money? Investigations conducted by the Commission on Audit and public prosecutors on the misuse of the pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Disbursement Acceleration Program should give the nation an idea.  

As of yesterday it was unclear if congressmen had dropped plunder from the list of offenses to be covered by the bill that will restore the death penalty – a priority measure of President Duterte. Several members of the House of Representatives announced last week that only offenses resulting in death should warrant capital punishment. After the announcement received flak, House leaders clarified that the exclusion was not yet final.

Studies conducted in the past years by multilateral institutions and development organizations have shown that corruption perpetuates poverty and stunts economic growth. Corruption, especially the type that constitutes plunder, siphons off substantial chunks of public funds that otherwise could be used to improve the delivery of state services such as the provision of decent shelter, public health care and education.

Corruption can lead to substandard infrastructure projects such as weak bridges that collapse easily and poor roads that deteriorate rapidly during rains. In Metro Manila, large-scale corruption can be blamed for the dismal state of the Metro Rail Transit 3. Substandard infrastructure can cause accidents and death. So can the failure of corrupt maritime personnel to enforce safety standards on the ships that ply the archipelago.

Indirectly, corruption can kill. And it causes untold misery to millions. If ever capital punishment is restored, the exclusion of plunder among the covered offenses will likely be regarded as self-preservation.