Plunder out of death penalty bill again

MANILA, Philippines - Administration lawmakers yesterday removed plunder, treason and rape from the list of offenses covered by a bill restoring the death penalty and retained drug-related cases as among those qualified for capital punishment.

“We agreed that the bill be limited to drug-related heinous crimes,” House committee on justice chairman and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali told journalists.

This is the second time that House members decided to remove plunder from the bill.

“It will be a lot easier to present facts and figures re-imposing death penalty for drug-related heinous crimes. The point is we get a headway in the re-imposition of the death penalty,” Umali said.

Drug offenses will make it easier for lawmakers to pass House Bill 4727, he added.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said an overwhelming majority – at least one-third, or 219 of 293 House members – would vote for the restoration of capital punishment.

Alvarez was referring to the scheduled approval on second reading of HB 4727, which will be done by members of the supermajority coalition either today or tomorrow.

“It will happen,” he said confidently, as he stood pat on the House’s policy for lawmakers to toe the party line of the dominant PDP-Laban party, including those allied with the ruling political party of President Duterte.

The House voted last week to terminate the period of debates and will now focus on individual amendments to the measure.

Lawmakers earlier included four offenses – plunder, treason, rape and drugs – among 21 heinous crimes to be covered by death penalty bill.