DAVAO CITY, Philippines—The Makabayan bloc in Congress urged the public to oppose and join the protest actions against the death penalty bill after the group decried the railroading of what it described as “anti-poor” bill when it was hastily approved on second reading last Wednesday night.
In a statement Monday, the lawmakers accused the pro-death penalty lawmakers for limiting the period of Makabayan bloc members and those who are against the bill for interpellation and to propose individual amendments.
“We stress that House members have the right to interpellate and to propose amendments, whatever is the interpretation or the opinion of those in the majority,” the bloc pointed out.
They said the bill “opens the door for a creeping death penalty legislation through subsequent amendments of existing penal laws that could lead to more crimes being added to those punishable by death.”
While the militant lawmakers condemned the bill’s passage on second reading, it further warned of the possibility that the law suspending the imposition of death penalty maybe repealed including other penal laws that pro-death penalty advocates would later amend and make death penalty as the maximum penalty.
“We are vehemently against this measure even with its supposedly watered down version because the death penalty bill is blatantly anti-poor, as shown by the data culled by human rights groups and even by government statistics during the time when the same was imposed during the Ramos administration. It will be no different from the current spate of extra-judicial killings (EJKs) where 99 percent of the victims are from the ranks of the poor,” the bloc said.
For its part, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines expressed its strong objection to the bill saying that it violates the right to life and is an ultimate, cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
The church-based group said that the bill’s imposition and infliction is brutalizing to all who are involved in the process.
“It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent; and it is unnecessary in an enlightened penal policy which emphasizes the rehabilitation of offenders rather than retribution,” the NCCP said in a statement.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said that Congress would prioritize the passage of House Bill 4727, a bill that re-impose death penalty on drug-related offenses.
For other heinous crimes such as plunder and rape, Alvarez said there is a possibility that Congress would pass bills on a “piecemeal basis.” (davaotoday.com)
