‘Death penalty for drug trafficking has better chance’

MANILA, Philippines — Revival of the death penalty can move faster in Congress if the proposed legislation is applied only against high-level drug traffickers, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said yesterday.

President Duterte, during his State of the Nation Address last Monday, urged lawmakers to reimpose the death penalty for crimes related to illegal drugs, heinous crimes and plunder.

Sotto said including heinous crimes and plunder in the measure that would propose the restoration of the death penalty will make committee and plenary debates longer due to expected intense debates between advocates and critics.

“So far, many senators support the idea of reimposing death penalty for high-level drug traffickers,” Sotto said.

“This measure is expected to hurdle a lot of debates but I strongly believe that it can be passed during the 18th Congress,” he said.

In a radio interview, Sotto said the death penalty for high-level drug traffickers cannot be considered “anti-poor.”

He said plunder could be included in the crimes punishable by death and could still be acceptable to lawmakers.

“It will be a long debate, but if we confine it to one crime or if they want, two crimes – to include plunder, the debates would not be as long because the weighty reasons why the death penalty should not be revived may not apply,” he said.

Sotto earlier said the death penalty bill may pass by a narrow margin of 13 to 14 votes, a simple majority in the 24-member chamber.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, who is strongly opposed to the death penalty, earlier said the votes of those for and against it are “about even.”

Sen. Manny Pacquiao backed Sotto’s proposal, saying drug traffickers must be prioritized in the imposition of death penalty.

Pacquiao on Monday said he prefers that drug traffickers be executed by firing squad to set an example.

But for other heinous crimes, lethal injection should suffice, he said.

Sotto, however, said execution by firing squad would be unconstitutional and inhuman.

Sen. Sonny Angara clarified his stand on the death penalty, saying he was open to it “for a very limited number of crimes like plunder.”

“It’s a very sensitive and contentious issue and deserves careful treatment,” Angara said, adding he wants to see the final version of the bill before deciding on his vote.

Sens. Panfilo Lacson and Christopher Go, in their bills seeking the revival of capital punishment, included plunder as among the heinous crimes punishable by death.

“They are all the same… they will end up dead just the same. We need not be brutal on the method of implementing capital punishment, what is important here is how we could eradicate corruption,” Go said.

Go said he can go for death by lethal injection or electric chair, whichever the majority would approve if the measures restoring death penalty will be deliberated on in the Senate.

Go lamented there seems to be no clear support from his colleagues in the Senate for including the offense of plunder as punishable by death.

“Why are they afraid of that (plunder punishable by death)?” he remarked.

Aside from Go and Lacson, other senators backing the revival of the death penalty are Pia Cayetano, Sherwin Gatchalian, Lito Lapid, Imee Marcos, Aquilino Pimentel III, Bong Revilla, Francis Tolentino and Cynthia Villar.

Opposed are Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Sens. Nancy Binay, Grace Poe and Richard Gordon.

Gordon chairs the committee on justice, which will hear the proposals.

Preside but not sponsor

While he will preside over hearings on the bills, Gordon said he would not sponsor them on the floor.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and three other members of the opposition bloc – Sens. Risa Hontiveros, Francis Pangilinan and Leila de Lima – have vowed to block the reimposition of the death penalty.

Two lawmakers from the House of Representatives, however, expressed support for the reimposition of death penalty.

Evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva of the Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list said the revival of capital punishment should be fair and not discriminate against the poor.

“I know it is a biblical command of the Lord as far as heinous crimes are concerned. But, is our justice system ready to implement that based on truth, justice and righteousness?” Villanueva asked.

“Was there any millionaire or billionaire here caught in illegal drugs or corruption? My point is the need for safety nets. It should not discriminate the poor from the rich,” he said.

Villanueva said the imposition of the death penalty should not be “emotionally driven.”

“The imposition of the death penalty should be wisdom driven because the government will apply these important policies that impact the lives of the public,” he said.

House Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante of Manila said he is supporting Duterte in reviving the death penalty.

“I have always supported the reimposition of the death penalty that was repealed during my time in the 13th Congress, but only on certain heinous crimes like massacre, terrorism, killing with rape, plunder,” said Abante, who is also a pastor.

Abante’s senior deputy, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, however, is against it.

“I hope Secretary (presidential spokesman Salvador) Panelo was just joking. Even among animals, that method has long been discarded,” Garin said.

Garin, a doctor by profession, was referring to statements attributed to Panelo that hanging is a better method to execute criminals.

Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. said death by hanging is tantamount to inhuman and degrading punishment that is against the law and the Constitution. – With Delon Porcalla, Christina Mendez