Pubdate: Wed, 18 May 2005
Source: People's Tonight (Philippines)
Copyright: Journal Group 2005
Contact: http://www.journal.com.ph/contactus.asp
Website: http://www.journal.com.ph
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3454
Author: Raul S. Beltran
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Death+Penalty
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines

TO BITAY OR NOT TO BITAY-- DAT IS DA KUWESTIYON

THE decision by Malacanang to suspend the execution of 21 death
convicts has rekindled the debate on capital punishment involving more
than 1,000 criminals doomed to die by lethal injection.

House leaders yesterday reiterated their opposing views on the issue
which Congress temporarily shelved after President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo declared a moratorium on legal action in 2003.

Rep. Joseph Santiago (NPC, Catanduanes) wanted President Arroyo to
consider the mass commutation of the death sentences waiting over
1,000 convicts at the New Bilibid Prisons, including several Chinese
nationals convicted of drug trafficking.

Santiago, a crusader for the abolition of the death penalty, said the
President should follow the example set by former Russian President
Boris Yeltsin who signed a decree in 1999 commuting the death
sentences of all 716 Russian prisoners awaiting execution.

"We are under the impression Malacanang is reluctant to commute death
sentences because the Chief Executive might be accused by death
penalty supporters of committing an injustice or turning soft on
crime," he said.

"However, Malacanang will not be committing an injustice if it resorts
to commutations. There is no injustice committed when a death sentence
is modified to life in prison," Santiago pointed out. "The convict
will still be punished, so the ends of justice will still be served."

Santiago noted that more than 100 countries have done away with
capital punishment "out of respect for the sanctity of human life."

But Lakas Representatives Robert "Ace" Barbers (Surigao del Norte),
Prospery Nograles Jr. (Davao City) and Juan Miguel Zubiri (Bukidnon)
agreed that Malacanang should take a firm stand against criminality
which they believed could be deterred by tough laws to include capital
punishment.

Barbers stressed the need to carry out the execution of convicted
criminals whose death sentences have been affirmed by the Supreme Court.

"They should begin with convicted drug traffickers, especially the
aliens. They should not be merely executed by lethal injection. They
should suffer the fate of Lim Seng," Barbers said, referring to the
Chinese drug trafficker who was shot by firing squad in the early days
of Martial Law in 1972.

Nograles, a former human rights lawyer, explained that long
imprisonment will not "necessarily reform hardened criminals.

Zubiri said the government should carry out its duty to execute death
convicts because of a law that mandates capital punishment for heinous
crimes.

"For every criminal granted a reprieve from the gallows, many others
are emboldened to commit a crime with impunity," he pointed out,
adding it "sends out the signal to the underworld that crime does pay.

"It is an invitation to criminals to go on a rampage. A society under
siege has the supreme right to protect itself and carrying out the
death penalty is an act of self-defense." 
- ---