Buhay Party-list dares candidates to bare stand on death penalty

By Ben Rosario 

The Buhay Partylist Saturday dared senatorial and congressional candidates to declare their respective stand on the death penalty issue.

Buhay Partylist Rep. Lito Atienza
(Russell Palma / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

In a press statement, Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Buhay Partylist Rep. Lito Atienza said candidates must make clear to voters their “exact position” on the Duterte administration’s move to restore the death penalty in the country’s penal system.

“Voters deserve to know the clear-cut stance of every Senate and House aspirant – whether they are for or against the return of capital punishment,” said Atienza.

“It would be unfair – even deceitful – for candidates to court the support of voters who are opposed to the death penalty, only to betray them later on,” Atienza, former three-term mayor of Manila, said.

Buhay Partylist is a staunch critic of the death penalty.

It will be recalled that the Lower House voted 217 in favor and 54 against the bill reinstating the death penalty for drug related offenses.

However, the Senate leadership has failed to act on its version of the bill.

As a result, the death penalty measure may no longer be passed and may be re-filed in the next Congress.

Atienza fought against the passage of the House bill reviving judicial executions on the grounds that they violate the sanctity of human life.

Atienza introduced a substitute bill that seeks to impose the new penalty of “qualified reclusion perpertua” on the worst criminal offenders.

The penalty is equal to imprisonment for 40 years, or until the convict reaches 70 years old, without the benefit of early release.

The results of a Social Weather Stations survey in March 2018 showed that less than 40 percent of Filipinos believe that the death penalty should be the punishment for people convicted of grave drug-related offenses.

Among those who disagreed with the death penalty, 42 percent invoked religious reasons for opposing it, 21 percent believe it is possible for offenders to reform, 14 percent believe in alternatives to executions, 10 percent cited the country’s corrupt and unreliable criminal justice system, 7 percent mentioned humane reasons, and 3 percent disputed the policy itself.

“The certainty of capture and punishment is the best deterrence to crime, more than the penalty itself. And the modern world has come to accept that prolonged imprisonment is just as effective,” Atienza said.

“The death penalty leaves no room for rectification. A dead convict cannot be brought back to life even if somebody else later on confesses to the crime,” Atienza said.

Congress revived the death penalty for 13 heinous crimes in 1993, only to abolish it in 2006 due to mounting flaws.