Senator Risa Hontiveros sounded alarm Thursday on simultaneous efforts to bring back the death penalty and lower the age of criminal responsibility, calling it a "deadly combination that will condemn Filipino children to a dark and sinister future in which they will become death row kids.”
In a press conference organized by Amnesty International Philippines, Hontiveros said there is no empirical proof that death penalty, the reimposition of which is being supported by many congressmen, is an effective deterrent against crime.
She said the measure even contradicts the government’s supposed thrust on the rehabilitation and reformation programs for convicted drug users and criminals.
"The broad scope of crimes punishable by death, including the mere possession of illegal drugs, is extremely bothering. What is therefore the point of building a mega-drug rehabilitation center in Nueva Ecija if the government wants all the drug addicts killed anyway?” the senator asked.
The House justice committee on Wednesday passed the substitute measure seeking to reinstate the death penalty, which is one of the administration’s legislative priorities.
Among the heinous crimes punishable by capital punishment under the bill include treason; qualified bribery; parricide; murder; infanticide; rape; kidnapping and serious illegal detention; robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons; destructive arson; plunder and possession of dangerous drugs.
The mode of capital punishment could either be through hanging, by firing squad or lethal injection.
Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene Bag-ao expressed alarm at the rush with which her colleagues aim to approve the death penalty bill despite lack of empirical data that will prove the necessity of its reinstatement.
“The Death Penalty Law already had its time in the Philippines when it was imposed for 12 long years since 1994. And this very same Congress had enough of it when it was abolished in 2006 since it was clear that it was not an effective deterrent to crime,” she said.
While President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies in the House of Representatives are bent on approving the death penalty bill by next year, Hontiveros said she expects lively debates on the measure to ensue in the Senate, considering nine or 10 of her colleagues are supposedly against it.
“From seven who are initially against the death penalty at the start of the 17th Congress, our numbers have grown to nine or 10. Ibig sabihin nito, we will be able to put up a good fight pagdating sa mga debate,” she said.
In addition to reinstating the death penalty, administration allies in the House are working for the passage of a bill lowering the age of criminal liability from the present 15 to 9.
Hontiveros, however, said sentencing children to jail is not the way to reform them.
“Putting children aged nine, who are not psychologically developed enough to understand the nature of crimes, in prison will merely turn them into hardened criminals. It will only stigmatize them and trigger repeat offense,” she said.
“What they need is to recover their sense of dignity and self-worth through rehabilitation and education programs under a fully-implemented Juvenile Justice Law," Hontiveros added.
In a press conference organized by Amnesty International Philippines, Hontiveros said there is no empirical proof that death penalty, the reimposition of which is being supported by many congressmen, is an effective deterrent against crime.
She said the measure even contradicts the government’s supposed thrust on the rehabilitation and reformation programs for convicted drug users and criminals.
"The broad scope of crimes punishable by death, including the mere possession of illegal drugs, is extremely bothering. What is therefore the point of building a mega-drug rehabilitation center in Nueva Ecija if the government wants all the drug addicts killed anyway?” the senator asked.
The House justice committee on Wednesday passed the substitute measure seeking to reinstate the death penalty, which is one of the administration’s legislative priorities.
Among the heinous crimes punishable by capital punishment under the bill include treason; qualified bribery; parricide; murder; infanticide; rape; kidnapping and serious illegal detention; robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons; destructive arson; plunder and possession of dangerous drugs.
The mode of capital punishment could either be through hanging, by firing squad or lethal injection.
Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene Bag-ao expressed alarm at the rush with which her colleagues aim to approve the death penalty bill despite lack of empirical data that will prove the necessity of its reinstatement.
“The Death Penalty Law already had its time in the Philippines when it was imposed for 12 long years since 1994. And this very same Congress had enough of it when it was abolished in 2006 since it was clear that it was not an effective deterrent to crime,” she said.
While President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies in the House of Representatives are bent on approving the death penalty bill by next year, Hontiveros said she expects lively debates on the measure to ensue in the Senate, considering nine or 10 of her colleagues are supposedly against it.
“From seven who are initially against the death penalty at the start of the 17th Congress, our numbers have grown to nine or 10. Ibig sabihin nito, we will be able to put up a good fight pagdating sa mga debate,” she said.
In addition to reinstating the death penalty, administration allies in the House are working for the passage of a bill lowering the age of criminal liability from the present 15 to 9.
Hontiveros, however, said sentencing children to jail is not the way to reform them.
“Putting children aged nine, who are not psychologically developed enough to understand the nature of crimes, in prison will merely turn them into hardened criminals. It will only stigmatize them and trigger repeat offense,” she said.
“What they need is to recover their sense of dignity and self-worth through rehabilitation and education programs under a fully-implemented Juvenile Justice Law," Hontiveros added.
Source: gmanetwork
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