Guingona supports Arroyo stand on death penalty

Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. threw his support yesterday behind the decision of President Arroyo to lift the moratorium on the implementation of capital punishment, saying "a nation has the right to defend itself" against organized crime.

Guingona defended the President from the ire of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla.

The CBCP accused Mrs. Arroyo of trying to win the votes of the influential Filipino-Chinese community by giving in to their demand for the implementation of the death penalty.

The CBCP took a more conciliatory tone yesterday, saying it is "restating even more vigorously our stand against capital punishment and, therefore, against the lifting of the (execution) moratorium," but that, "as citizens of this country, we respect the President’s right and prerogative to protect public order as well as her right to change her mind." "We do not believe (executions) will deter crime unless there is a general breakdown of law and order," the CBCP said.

Mrs. Arroyo, Guingona said, should be given the "benefit of the doubt" that her intentions for implementing the death penalty is meant to address the upsurge in kidnap cases in the country.

"Anything that the President does now can be interpreted one way or another," he said, "but we have to give her the benefit of the doubt so far as the issue is concerned."

"The (criminals) do violence not only to the victims, but also to society and the nation. Therefore, a nation has a right to protect itself," Guingona said.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye denied the CBCP’s allegation, saying "the situation called for giving additional protection to our people. That is why the President made this decision and it had nothing to do with politics." Bunye said the President "agonized for weeks" before announcing Friday that she "will no longer stand in the way" of executions scheduled by the courts for January next year.

Guingona earlier criticized Malacañang’s "ambivalent policy" on the death penalty and said he hoped the Palace decision would eventually allow social behavior scientists to determine if capital punishment can indeed serve as an effective deterrent against crime.

When he was still a senator, Guingona voted for the reimposition of the death penalty for heinous crimes.

Over the weekend, Malacañang asked leaders of the Catholic Church to balance their "moral position" on the President’s decision to lift the moratorium on executions with the need to protect their "helpless flock from unspeakable heinous crimes."

Guingona said government and the private sector should conduct a comprehensive study to determine if capital punishment will serve as an effective crime deterrent or not.

Since the President assumed office in January 2001, none of the over 1,000 convicts on death row at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City have been executed.

Some 165 of these death sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court and automatically elevated to the Office of the President, while 32 warrants for execution have already been issued.

Two inmates are scheduled for execution in January, the first of whom committed rape and murder.

Once the warrant scheduling a convict’s execution is issued, only executive clemency from the President will stop the implementation of the order for execution.

Other Christian groups, including the religious ministries inside the NBP, said the President’s decision to lift the execution moratorium is a direct admission that the Arroyo administration has failed to reform inmates who committed heinous crimes.

These groups, including the Ang Dating Daan and the Iglesia ni Cristo, said the President has failed to justify her decision.

Bureau of Correction (BuCor) public information office chief Venacio Tesoro said the deterrent effect of the death penalty on crimes relies primarily on the government’s law enforcement agencies.

"It is the certainty of being caught, rather than the gravity of the crime that deters criminals," he said.

Tesoro said the BuCor sees no problems with the government’s convict rehabilitation programs, saying these have been effective, as shown by parole and pardon grants.

He advised religious groups who oppose capital punishment to "go to Congress and lobby for abolition (of the death penalty law)."

Over 90 percent of groups — mostly religious — inside the NBP are calling for the abolition of the death penalty, Tesoro said.

Meanwhile, the European Union has expressed concern over the lifting of the moratorium on executions.

At a recent meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople, Italian Ambassador Umberto Colesanti conveyed the EU’s "long-standing and firm" position against the death penalty.

"This demarche was not unexpected," Ople said of his meeting with Colesanti. "I gave him the opportunity to make his representation, during which time he also reiterated the strong support of the EU for the sincere efforts of our government to fight crime."

"It was clear from our discussion that the EU understands, although it disagrees with, our decision to lift the moratorium on the death penalty," Ople said. "It was also clear that the Philippines understands the traditional position of the EU on this matter. It is regrettable that we are in disagreement, but we are agreed to continue to keep our lines of communication... open and to hear out each other’s positions on this issue."

German Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid Claudia Roth expressed last month the German government’s support for the abolition of the death penalty in the Philippines.

"You can be a strong state even if you don’t need the death penalty — strong if, as a means of justice, you do not need the death penalty," Roth said.