Candidates urged to bare stand on death penalty

MANILA, Philippines — Candidates for senator and member of the House of Representatives in the May elections were urged yesterday to reveal their stand on the proposal to re-impose the death penalty.

“Voters deserve to know the clear-cut stance of every Senate and House aspirant – whether they are for or against the return of capital punishment,” said Buhay party-list group Rep. Lito Atienza.

“It would be unfair – even deceitful – for candidates to court the support of voters who are opposed to the death penalty, only to betray them later on,” he said.

In March 2017, the House, under the leadership of former speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, overwhelmingly passed on third and final reading a bill reinstating the death penalty for drug-related offenses because President Duterte called for its approval.

Among those who voted against it was Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who subsequently lost her post as deputy speaker in a purge of opponents of the death penalty Alvarez carried out.

More than a year later, in a coup which, by her father’s own account, was initiated by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, Arroyo would replace Alvarez.

The House-approved death penalty bill has not been enacted because the Senate has been sitting on it.

Before Congress adjourned for the three-month election campaign two weeks ago, the House approved a bill re-imposing the death penalty for drug offenders and but later withdrew such approval. 

Atienza fought against the original bill and proposed that the penalty of “qualified life imprisonment” be imposed instead on worst criminal offenders.

The penalty is equal to imprisonment for 40 years, or until the convict reaches 70 years old, without the benefit of early release.

Atienza said most Filipinos are against the return of capital punishment as shown in surveys.

“The certainty of capture and punishment is the best deterrence to crime, more than the penalty itself. And the modern world has come to accept that prolonged imprisonment is just as effective,” he said.

He said the death penalty “leaves no room for rectification.” 

“A dead convict cannot be brought back to life even if somebody else later on confesses to the crime,” the former Manila mayor stressed.

Congress revived the death penalty for 13 heinous crimes in 1993, only to abolish it in 2006 due to mounting flaws.

Sex offender registration pushed

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III filed a proposed bill that seeks to ban foreign sex offenders, including those whose names are listed in local and international sex offenders’ registry, from entering the Philippines.

Pimentel’s measure would minimize the presence of sex offenders in the country and protect children from these sexual predators.

“This bill mandates the creation of a sex offender registration and notification program, allows consular officers to issue the necessary prohibition orders against sex offenders or foreign nationals in conflict with child protection laws based on available and verifiable intelligence reports. This measure will fully protect our vulnerable children from these sexual predators,” he said.

Pimentel said the bill will also allow summary deportation proceedings to be commenced against those who were able to enter the Philippines despite being among those subject for exclusion.

Pimentel cited the 2016 Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism which shows that the Philippines is one of the most favored destinations of traveling sex offenders.

“The same report highlighted the fact that because our legal frameworks are weak, our law enforcement has allowed them to remain virtually immune from prosecution,” Pimentel said in filing Senate Bill No. 2192 entitled “An Act Protecting Children From Traveling Sex Offenders and For Other Purposes.”

El Niño

Meanwhile, Sen. Nancy Binay said government agencies should start an intensified information campaign to inform the public of the possible impacts of El Niño, which has been felt in several provinces in Luzon and Mindanao in the past four months.

Binay said the public should be equipped with information on how to lessen the impact of the phenomenon.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said that the weather condition is now affecting the country. El Niño is characterized by reduced amounts of rainfall.

PAGASA added that dry spell and drought had been observed in several provinces in Luzon and Mindanao from September 2018 to January 2019. These conditions were said to usher in El Niño.

Binay expressed alarm on the possible impact of El Niño, especially on farmers.

NPC backing

Reelectionists Sens. Joseph Victor Ejercito and Grace Poe will have the backing of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) for the elections in May, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said yesterday.

Aside from Ejercito and Poe, Gatchalian said the NPC will also be supporting former senator Lito Lapid. He said Ejercito and Lapid have taken their oaths with the NPC.

Former senator Juan Ponce Enrile said if he is elected again as a senator, he would review certain laws, including those passed during the administration of President Duterte.

One of the laws he would evaluate would be the rice tariffication law, he said in an interview with radio station dwIZ yesterday.

Lawmakers must see if the tariff imposed on imported rice would “protect the farmers and help the consumers” since the two sectors hold entirely different interests, he maintained. –  With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Ghio Ong