I say give it to them!

Bring back the death penalty! This is the call of the parents of Cyrish Magalang, the UST cum laude graduate whose body was found in a lot in Cavite, her hands bound, her body stabbed at least forty-nine times and her head bashed in! There are even indications of an attempted rape, but because she fought back fiercely, she was killed instead! My goodness! Can a crime get any more heinous than this? Two suspects are now in custody. The tricycle that Cyrish was last seen boarding was identified and it yielded two suspects, who are brothers! Evidence of their participation in the crime were found in their home. They have confessed to the crime, but at the same time they are saying that they were under the influence of drugs, causing them to commit those unspeakable acts. Yeah right! How many times have we heard that!

Can you blame the parents of Cyrish for wanting an equal amount of justice? They took a life, violently. So their lives must be taken as punishment. It is time to see the death penalty not as a deterrent to crime, but as a just and equal amount of punishment. I know the debates, but the problem is, we are not in the shoes of the parents of Cyrish. In fact, the father even states that he would like to dispense justice himself, and the mother says that saying sorry just isn’t enough. Can we blame them?

They did all they could to give Cyrish a good, quality education. They have worked all their lives to give Cyrish a better chance at making it better in this world. And she did just that, making her parents proud of her graduating with honors! Only for her life to be snuffed out by some drug-crazed morons! I don’t buy the “we were on drugs” defense. Drugs don’t walk up to a person and say, take me, and you can do anything you want! Why they take drugs is not the issue but the crime they committed, and the appropriate punishment that should be meted out to them!

We are not in the parents’ shoes. I don’t want to be. I cannot imagine something like that happening to a loved one. So let us not pass judgment on Cyrish’ parents, but on the suspects. I really find it unbelievable that in crimes like this, there seems to be more concern towards the rights of the suspects, and nothing is said about the feelings of the parents! It is time to make criminals pay for their acts. If there is a reason to bring back the death penalty, this crime is one of them.

I say give it to them!