40 years hard labor in lieu of death penalty proposed

A Visayas lawmaker has proposed that people convicted of heinous crimes be punished with "40 years of hard labor" in lieu of the death penalty.

Calling his proposal "qualified reclusion perpetua," House Deputy Majority Leader Eduardo Gullas said this "harsh form of life imprisonment" would also "include the accessory penalty requiring convicts to provide full compensation to the victims or their families."

"We will establish a new Victims’ Compensation Fund," he said.

"Convicts will be required to perform productive hard labor in prison, and the earnings derived therefrom will be put in the fund to be administered by the Department of Justice."

The 40 years in prison with productive hard labor will have no allowances for good behavior, he added.

Under Gullas’ proposal, a person convicted of a heinous crime would be imprisoned for the rest of his life — a minimum of 40 years, or until he reaches the age of 70 — before becoming eligible for parole.

At present, those serving life terms are eligible for parole upon serving only half of their prison term, or after 15 to 20 years.

They are also entitled to good conduct credits, as well as reduction of sentence for preventive detention, or jail time served prior to conviction.

With exemplary behavior, a life-termer may qualify to get out of prison after serving less than 15 years.

Gullas said convicts who would be sentenced to the new penalty of qualified reclusion perpetua would not receive good behavior allowances or reduction of their sentences for preventive detention.

"This means the (heinous crime) convict must reach 70 or spend a minimum of 40 years in prison, excluding time served before conviction, even if he shows meritorious demeanor," he said.

On the other hand, Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, who is pro-life, said an efficient justice system that arrests and puts to jail criminals is the best way to deter crime, not the state-sanctioned death penalty.

"The death penalty clearly serves no purpose that could not be achieved by life imprisonment," he said. "The certainty of swift apprehension, prosecution, conviction and punishment is our best deterrence to crime."

Santiago and House Deputy Majority Leader Edcel Lagman have emphasized that capital punishment cultivates a culture of death and violence and could even breed more vicious crimes.

Lagman noted that 60 percent of the 1,513 convicts in death row were "aware that capital punishment was in force and effect in the Philippines before they committed their crimes."

"Clearly, the death penalty has failed as a deterrent to crime, nor is it the panacea to lawlessness," he said.

"Rather, it perpetuates a culture of violence and continues to sanctify vengeance as virtue."

Santiago said there can still be justice without the death penalty. "There is no injustice committed when a convict is sentenced to lifetime captivity, instead of death by lethal injection," he said. "The convict is still punished and justice is still served."

Santiago said 123 countries, among them the European Union, have abolished death penalty.

"Does this mean their justice systems are inferior to ours because we subscribe to capital punishment and they don’t?" he asked.

Santiago said only 25 countries, including the Philippines, actually carry out executions.

"State-sponsored killings tend to have a brutalizing effect on us," he said.

"The more we get exposed to legalized murder, the more we lose respect for the sanctity and value of human life. And the more we accept violence as part of our culture."

Crimes have been increasing despite the death penalty, Santiago said.

Statistics show that murders surged by 1.42 percent from 6,344 cases in 2004 to 6,434 cases in 2005; rape by 1.51 percent from 2,918 in 2004 to 2,962 in 2005; theft by 3.99 percent from 10,739 in 2004 to 11,167 in 2005; and robbery by 2.18 percent from 7,558 in 2004 to 7,723 in 2005.

Meanwhile, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said yesterday it will consult its lawyers to determine if President Arroyo violated any law when she issued a sweeping order to reduce to life imprisonment the sentences of death convicts.

Speaking to reporters at the Kapihan sa Manila Hotel yesterday, Dante Jimenez, VACC chairman, said they would ask the Supreme Court to clarify if Mrs. Arroyo’s Holy Week order could be disregarded.

"The VACC is now studying this," he said.

"We would look at that and ask the victims to file a case before the Supreme Court. It is a question of constitutional right, which is higher than President Arroyo’s order or a law made by Congress.

"I will test the SC if she (the President) has usurped the power because it is only after it (the case) has been affirmed by the SC that it can be implemented."

Jimenez said under Article 81 of the Revised Penal Code, a death convict should be executed not later than one year after the judgment has become final.

By refusing to carry out the death sentence and reducing it to life imprisonment, the President is allegedly violating the law, he said.

"President Arroyo can reprieve or pardon criminals but one at a time, not wholesale. Let us know how they did it, how they commuted the sentences."

Mrs. Arroyo should only have acted on death penalty cases that have been affirmed by the Supreme Court with finality, he added.

Jimenez asked lawmakers to thoroughly study the implications before they decide to repeal Republic Act 7659, the Death Penalty Law.

"This is a very emotional issue that would gravely affect the victims and families of victims of heinous crimes such as rape, murder, kidnap for ransom and the peddling of illegal drugs," he said.

Jimenez said the administration should not allow itself to be influenced by the stand of European countries against the death penalty.

In Australia, they have already restored capital punishment, he added. — Delon Porcalla, Evelyn Macairan