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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Legislator: House to hasten death penalty abolition
By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE House of Representative is planning to fast track actions on pending bills seeking to abolish the death penalty.
The move followed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's announcement on Saturday that all those in the death row will be serving life imprisonment instead.
House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said Monday they would also ask the President to certify the bill as urgent so they could readily act on it.
Nograles supported Arroyo's recent declaration but added that the move must first be debated and that the sentiments of the victims of heinous crimes be taken into consideration too.
"To commute is a presidential prerogative. It's the pro-life line of the Catholic Church versus death penalty. Maybe it's now time for Congress to revisit the death penalty law if that is the administration policy. This issue must again be debated to bring it out in the open. We must think of the victims of heinous crimes too," Nograles said.
He denied insinuations that the commutation was done to appease the influential Catholic Church and eventually soften their stand against Charter change.
"We did not do it to please the Catholic Church so it would go soft on Cha-cha. But as a devout Catholic, Gloria listens to bishops' advice even if some bishops never listen to her," Nograles said.
The Dabawenyo lawmaker admitted that he personally "would want drug lords to die by lethal injection because they are unforgiving to our youth and they destroy our country."
The new policy would benefit roughly 1,000 convicts on death row. As of December 2005, there were 1,205 death convicts: 1,174 men and 31 women.
The abolition of the death penalty requires an act of Congress.
Capital punishment was imposed anew in 1994 through Republic Act 7659, covering such heinous crimes as treason, plunder, murder, kidnapping, rape, and importation and sale of prohibited drugs.
Through the law, lethal injection was designated as the method of carrying out the maximum penalty.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte already said he is in favor of death penalty for those who deserve it.
He was quick to add that he is not questioning the decision of the President.
The mayor suggested that for the controversy over the imposition of the death penalty to be stopped, "we might as well strike it out from the books."
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (April 18, 2006 issue)
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