Capital punishment

Two contentious issues will preoccupy Congress in the coming year: Charter change and the restoration of capital punishment.

The debate over the return of the death penalty will likely boil down to a choice between allowing state executions or encouraging the continuation of “cardboard justice” and the ruthless war on drugs, marred by thousands of killings believed to be extrajudicial.

For opponents of capital punishment, that’s a choice between Duterte (and his brand of swift justice) and the deep blue sea.

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Taking human life seems to be an obsession for President Duterte. Yesterday he said if he had been in Manila when the operators of the shabu laboratory in San Juan were caught, he would have killed them.

He also warned corrupt public officials that he would toss them out of a helicopter. He had done it in the past, he said, and he could do it again.

Joke only? More hyperbole? There might be a clarification today from the firefighters of the administration.

For sure, there are people who won’t mind seeing corrupt public officials plunging to their death from a helicopter. The problem is that such harsh punishment seems to be reserved only for the small fry; the big fish get to keep the money and even become “honorable” members of Congress.

Whether joking or not, Dirty Rody has made his point: he has no compunctions about killing even before guilt is established beyond reasonable doubt. So he probably isn’t too worried about opposition to his proposal to restore capital punishment.

Even Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, one of Du30’s original allies, has warned that the restoration of capital punishment faces rough sailing in the chamber. Considering the opportunism and balimbing mentality that permeate the two chambers of Congress, however, it’s likely that Du30 will get his wish. Already, we’re hearing several staunch pro-life and anti-death penalty advocates now openly proclaiming their change of heart – and hoping that Duterte will notice.

What’s uncertain is whether Dirty Rody will see a convict executed under his watch.

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Between Dec. 13, 1993, when Republic Act 7659 was approved, restoring capital punishment, and April 15, 2006 when then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed RA 9346 abolishing the penalty, seven convicts were executed by lethal injection.

The enactment of RA 9346 commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences of about 1,230 inmates. Nearly 1,100 of them were men, over 30 were women and over 130 were foreigners.

Their crimes included murder, homicide, parricide, kidnapping and carjacking with aggravating offenses as well as rape, arson, gun law violations and serious robberies. Ten were convicted of corruption-related offenses and 38 violated drug laws.

Before a convict can be executed, the death sentence must be affirmed by the Supreme Court. After appeals, the conviction must be affirmed with finality. The SC must issue an entry of judgment and warrant of execution, and a date and time must be set for carrying out the sentence. Corrections officials can be given the discretion to pick the time.

Unless the SC specifies the date, no execution can be carried out. Shortly before capital punishment was abolished, there were four women on death row whose sentences had been affirmed by the SC, with an entry of judgment but with no date set for their execution. All four were convicted of kidnapping for ransom. Their lives were saved by RA 9346.

All that the SC has to do is sit forever on the time for the execution, and capital punishment, even if restored, will de facto be abolished.

I’m not sure if Congress can amend SC rules in dealing with death sentences. But if the previous procedures are retained, any restoration of the death penalty by Du30’s “super majority” in Congress could turn out to be a mere waste of legislative time, effort and resources – unless Duterte also manages to install his own “super majority” in the Supreme Court.

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Opponents of the death penalty will see this as good news. On the other hand, it could encourage Dirty Rody to continue his brand of capital punishment, which is quicker and more lethal, all the way to the end of his six-year term.

This presumes that Duterte is pushing for the restoration of capital punishment to replace his swift retribution for drug personalities.

Duterte has stressed that capital punishment, abolished by Corazon Aquino and restored by his mentor Fidel Ramos, failed to serve as a crime deterrent because it was rarely carried out.

When congressional deliberations start, among the arguments expected from death penalty proponents is that the Philippines has the highest homicide rate in the Asia-Pacific, where almost all countries have capital punishment.

In Southeast Asia, only Cambodia and the Philippines have abolished the death penalty. Singapore, the region’s most advanced economy, continues to carry out state executions. Indonesia has carried out multiple executions. Both countries impose capital punishment for drug trafficking, just like China, Cuba, Iran, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Vietnam. The Europeans mostly shun the death penalty.

The world’s three largest economies have capital punishment. China has the highest number of state executions for a wide range of offenses. Japan hangs murder convicts.

At the heart of the debate is whether it is wise to take a life to deter crime and keep the greater majority safe.

This argument is used to justify the ongoing bloody war on drugs. Except in Operation Plans Tokhang and Double Barrel, anti-narcotics agents don’t bother filing cases against suspected drug offenders. They don’t bother waiting for the Supreme Court to render final judgment and issue a warrant of execution, with a specific date for implementing the sentence.

They simply render judgment and execute.