Rody: No vow to kill plunderers to end corruption

MANILA, Philippines -  Amid clamor to include plunder in the list of crimes punishable by death, President Duterte yesterday maintained that he only promised to stamp out corruption during his term, not to “kill the plunderers.”              

“I said I’d stop corruption, but I didn’t say that I am going to kill the plunderers,” said Duterte, who has become infamous for his bloody war on drugs, which has so far slain 7,000 drug suspects.          

“What was (on) my mind is that corruption will stop and it will stop,” he added, when asked for reaction about plunder being dropped from the list of crimes covered by capital punishment.        

In an interview in Cagayan de Oro City, Duterte said he wants to also review why rape was not included in the proposal to restore death penalty, which has already passed second reading at the House of Representatives.           “It is a gross violation of the dignity of a human... Ewan ko bakit (I don’t know why)… Actually, I just heard it kanina (earlier),” he said.

Duterte said he thought rape would be made punishable by death; however, he said he would give congressmen a free hand on making the decision, since they are the ones tasked to craft the law.           

“That is the game plan. I leave it to the wisdom of the congressmen kasi sila ’yung representate ng tao (because they are the representatives of people),” he said.

Death by hanging

In the wake of his latest statements regarding the re-imposition of the death penalty, Duterte has made public anew his preference for death by hanging when he said he would line up convicted drug lords like a curtain, when he hangs them in Fort Bonifacio.          

A few days after he asked a close associate to quietly leave office after he was reported to have asked commission from approved government projects, Duterte said he is inclined to boot out other government officials who have been tagged as engaging in corruption.               

“(I)n the coming days I’m going to fire additional people (whom) I have appointed in government. Marami ‘yan (There are many of them), I am still trying to figure out how it was done, pero, ito ang sinabi ko, ito ang warning ko sa taga-gobyerno, maski director or CESO (Career Executive Service officer) or civil service, eligible ka (this is what I said, this is my warning to those who are in the government, even if you are a director or CESO or civil service, you are eligible),” he said. 

Duterte also reiterated his call for every government official to refrain from engaging in graft and corruption activities. If he cannot totally stop corruption, the President said he wants corruption stopped even at the “barest minimum.”      

“I told you to stop at least for six years, while I’m in office,” the President said in Filipino.

Call for conscience vote

Lawmakers opposing the death penalty bill yesterday called for a conscience vote on Tuesday, when the House of Representatives is set to approve the measure on third and final reading.     

“Let this be a conscience vote, not one dictated by party lines. But House members should state their position clearly, so the public may know who passed this death sentence on the Filipino people,” Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. said.           

Many members who supported the approval of the bill on second reading last Wednesday “could still change their mind and vote according to their conscience,” according to Baguilat.               

He said the fight against the measure “is not over ‘till it’s over.”              

Echoing Baguilat’s call, Rep. Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay said he believes many of his colleagues are against capital punishment, but are just following the decision of the majority to support it.       

He said that many of the 26 who stood up to protest the abrupt termination of debates and the period for amendments were members of the majority coalition.

“Only a few of us belong to the minority,” Atienza said, as he called on the people and the other sectors opposed to the death penalty to lobby with their elected representatives for their vote against the measure.

He said capital punishment won’t work for as long as there are corrupt police investigators, prosecutors and judges.  The key is to reform the justice system, he said.

Reminiscent  of martial law

Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay likened the situation in the House to the martial law regime of the late president Ferdinand Marcos.        

“The lack of will and courage (in) most members of the supermajority to defy the pressure and threats of the House leadership is reminiscent of the rubberstamp Batasan Pambansa during the martial law regime,” he said.

He said Wednesday night’s proceedings “lacked transparency and accountability, as most members of the supermajority voted on the cue of the majority leader and sought anonymity in the viva voce (voice vote) voting.”

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has said the House cut short the deliberations and called for a second-reading vote to show that it would not allow “a tyranny of the minority.”  

Before the vote, Lagman and his colleagues took turns in proposing amendments, which would have mangled the bill had the sponsor, Reynaldo Umali of Mindoro Oriental – who is justice committee chairman – accepted them.

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas moved for terminating the period for amendments and debates after the majority blocked three successive attempts by Lagman to delete death penalty from the measure and replace it with lesser punishment.      

“This bill seeks the re-imposition of the death penalty. It is clear that those opposed to it do not intend to present honest-to-goodness amendments,” Fariñas said.             

In a statement, the Makabayan bloc of seven leftist party-list representatives who belong to the majority denounced the “railroading” of the death penalty bill.        

Such decision on the part of the House leadership deprived them of their right to propose amendments, they said.

“Whatever amendment will be proposed by any member will eventually be put to a vote.

Thus, in the spirit of a healthy debate in a collegial body like ours, it would have been better if the process were allowed to run its course. Yet, the pro-death penalty majority did not allow this and instead stifled the right of those who want to air their views on the issue,” they said.       

“We believe that the opposition against the death penalty bill will intensify, and we are calling on the people to show their opposition to the death penalty by trooping to the House of Representatives next week during the plenary sessions and join the protest actions to call for the junking of the death penalty bill,” they added.