MALACAÑANG'S plan to revive the death penalty is is not an urgent concern and will only prevent the public from paying attention to the most pressing issues in the country like the rising inflation caused by the tax reform law, said Akbayan Representative Tom Villarin.
"Inflation is now at its highest and government must take drastic policy measures which another divisive debate on the death penalty won't help," Villarin said.
The opposition lawmaker said pushing for the death penalty anew sends a chilling message to the poor that human life has no worth for the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
"The economics of death is Duterte’s only priority concern, not the economics of feeding and uplifting the poor," said Villarin.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque recently said that the revival of the death penalty is still one of the priorities of the Duterte administration.
With this, Roque said that the President will try to persuade the senators to pass a bill restoring the capital punishment.
In March 2017, the House of Representatives passed its version of the death penalty bill, which focuses only on drug-related offenses.
Roque made the statement after Pope Francis said that the Catholic church will work towards the abolition of the death penalty around the world as death, as capital punishment is never admissible. (Keith Calayag/SunStar Philippines)