Pro-life groups decry pro-death legislators

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III and Vice Governor Agnes Magpale discuss with Provincial Police Director. Eric Noble (right) the drug situation in the province during the Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting yesterday at the Cebu Grand Hotel.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

Dismay and disappointment in their congressmen were the overwhelming sentiments of pro-life advocates in Cebu.

Some government officials likewise aired their stance against the death penalty but said they also respected the stance of the congressmen who voted in favor of the death penalty.

“Tanang tawo has an opinion on the death penalty so let’s respect that pero ang akong stand, I have always been against death penalty. They have their own reasons,” said Governor Hilario Davide III.

All the congressmen in Cebu voted in favor of the reimposition of the death penalty except Cebu City First District Representative Raul del Mar. Cebu City Second District Representative Rodrigo Abellanosa was the lone abstention.

Provincial Board member Sun Shimura said he has always been a pro-life advocate but said the congressmen who voted in favor of the death penalty bill are entitled to their own choices. Shimura, however, said if the bill would be passed into law, it would include other heinous crimes such as rape and plunder.

Anti-poor

Vice Governor Agnes Magpale described the death penalty as anti-poor.

“That was expected (the pro-death penalty vote), but for me it is so anti-poor,” Magpale said.

“Ang ako gyud nga example ang kadto Ella Joy case. He (the suspect) was able to get a very good lawyer. Mao na ang akong giingon nga until the justice system, wala pa nato ma-improve, it’s really anti-poor. I am very hopeful that the bill will be stopped at the Senate,” the vice governor added.

“I’m still man gyud against the death penalty because our justice system is not ready for that,” she said.

Davide, in an official statement issued after the interview, said the country’s justice system is such that only those who could afford good legal services, at the cost of very expensive rates, have a high chance of being set free.

“Admit it or not but our judicial nets are so adjusted as to catch the minnows, and let the whales slip through. If you can afford good legal representation, chances of freedom is high,” Davide’s statement read.

“Sadly, most of the defendants charged with capital crimes are poor and cannot afford an experienced criminal defense attorney. They are compelled to use inexperienced, underpaid and overworked lawyers. The reality in the Philippines today is that representation by a capable attorney is almost a luxury. Adequate representation in court is but the privilege of those who can pay more. Given the way in which the justice system herds the poor through its gates, it is no wonder that it often entraps the innocent,” the statement further read.

Pro-life advocates

Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer, vice president of the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas for the Visayas, said the passage of the controversial bill in congress was foreseen and the votes of the Cebuano congressmen favoring the death penalty was very sad.

“To Cebu’s lawmakers who voted for the reimposition of the death penalty, I don’t know if you have the heart and the eyes to reflect this Lenten season,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Cebu, said death penalty is not likely to address criminality in the country.

“Oftentimes, its victims are poor people. And what if there are wrong judgements by our courts. Death penalty just creates more problems,” he said.
Pro-life advocates and the Catholic Church have repeatedly and consistently opposed the death penalty as “inhuman and barbaric, punishes just the poor who could not afford the best lawyers, condemns the innocent to die, does not stop crimes and against God’s law.”

Law enforcement

Arvin Odron, director of the Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas, believed efficient law enforcement, not death penalty, hinders the increase of number of crimes.

“Even if we don’t have death penalty, we reduce crimes as long as there is efficient implementation of our laws,” he said.

Teody Navea, secretary general of Sanlakas in Cebu, also said the death penalty is not the solution to criminality.

“Death penalty is anti-poor. Those who are directly affected are people who cannot afford lawyers,” Navea told Cebu Daily News.

The Sanlakas group launched a signature campaign last week which aimed one million signatures against death penalty bill.

Niño Olayvar, vice president of Anakbayan-Visayas, believes it was the pressure from the present administration that resulted in the majority vote by Congress favoring capital punishment.

“It shows that the administration holds the congress. Mga walay kaikog,” Olayvar said.

Research

Research conducted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer noted that the Philippines has had a history of invoking and scrapping capital punishment since the end of World War II.

Between 1946 and 1965, when Ferdinand Marcos was president, 35 people convicted of savage crimes were executed.

But after the Edsa People Power Revolution, President Corazon Aquino promulgated the 1987 Constitution and abolished the death penalty “unless for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, Congress hereafter provides for it.”

In 1993, Congress passed Republic Act 7659 or the Death Penalty Law, which reimposed capital punishment.

Under this law, crimes punishable by death included murder, rape, big-time drug trafficking, kidnapping for ransom, treason, piracy, qualified bribery, parricide, infanticide, plunder, kidnapping and serious illegal detention, robbery with violence or intimidation, qualified vehicle theft and arson.

In March 1996, the law, through RA 8177, was amended prescribing death by lethal injection for offenders convicted of heinous crimes.

Between 1999 and 2000, during the term of president Joseph Estrada, seven inmates were put to death.

The first person to be executed was Leo Echegaray, on Feb. 9, 1999, and the last was Alex Bartolome, on Jan. 4, 2000.

In June 2006, president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo abolished capital punishment when she signed Republic Act No. 9346, also known as An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of the Death Penalty in the Philippines.

Arroyo explained that death penalty had not proven to be a deterrent to crime and had to be abolished.