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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO and PRINCE GOLEZ
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Thursday, March 9, 2017
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MANILA – Except for Emmanuel Billones (Capiz, 1st District), all representatives from Western Visayas voted to pass on third and final reading the House bill seeking the revival of the death penalty.
All Iloilo congressmen favored the measure: Jerry Treñas (Iloilo City, lone district), Oscar “Richard” Garin Jr. (1st District), Arcadio Gorriceta (2nd District), Arthur Defensor Jr. (3rd District), Ferjenel Biron (4th District) and Raul Tupas (5th District).
Others who voted “yes” were Carlito Marquez (Aklan, lone district), Paolo Everardo Javier (Antique, lone district), Ma. Lucille Nava (Guimaras, lone district), and Fredenil Castro (Capiz, 2nd District).
The House of Representatives passed House Bill No. 4727 imposing death on those convicted of illegal drug-related crimes on Tuesday, with 216 affirmative votes, 54 negative votes and one abstention.
Originally the bill contained 21 heinous crimes punishable with death. They included plunder, treason, murder, and rape. But lawmakers watered down the bill and retained only drug-related offenses.
In Negros Island Region, only two of the 10 Lower House representatives opposed the contentious bill: Julius Ferrer (Negros Occidental, 4th District) and Jocelyn Limkaichong (Negros Oriental, 1st District).
Saying “yes” to the passage were Greg Gasataya (Bacolod City, lone district) and Negros Occidental’s Melecio Yap Jr. (1st District), Leo Rafael Cueva (2nd District), Alfredo Benitez (3rd District), Alejandro Mirasol (5th District), and Mercedes Alvarez (6th District).
Negros Oriental’s Manuel Sagarbarria of the 2nd District and Arnolfo Teves of the 3rd District voted in the affirmative, too.
Benitez believes capital punishment will help prevent crimes.
Yap and Gasataya, on the other hand, stressed drug-related crimes are a compelling reason to revive the death penalty.
Negrense Stephen Paduano of the Abang Lingkod party-list also voted against the passage of the death penalty bill. He believes everybody deserves a second chance.
“In my personal experience, I was given second chances,” said the party-list representative. “My renewal to my religious belief after everything I have gone through was the basis for my vote.”
“No amount of pressure and influence will sway my position,” Paduano added.
Treñas confirmed to Panay News that all Iloilo congressmen favored the measure.
A former Liberal Party stalwart now with the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan led by President Rodrigo Duterte, Treñas said he abides by the stand of his current party.
“The party has a stand, and we have to follow the party line,” he said.
Meanwhile, Garin told Panay News he believes death penalty will be an effective deterrent to drug-related crimes.
Rape may have been excluded but a rape convict may still be punished with death if they test positive for drug use, he clarified.
“Kon ang nag-commit sang krimen naka-drugs, sulod sia sa death penalty,” Garin explained. “Pwede sia pinahan. Basta pagka-commit sang krimen, kuhaan dayon drug test to justify nga naka-drugs.”
Garin believes there is a “bigger chance” a counterpart measure gets approved in the Senate.
“For me, it is 50-50 ang chance,” he said. “Unlike sang una, two or three ka cases, daw wala gid tsansa. Pero subong nga dangerous drugs cases na lang, bigger chance.”
Defensor, for his part, said drug-related crimes should “undoubtedly” be penalized with death.
“Kon ako lang, ang plunder pwede pa gid [i-include]. Rape, on the other hand, is already [punishable] under Revised Penal Code,” he said.
Defensor said the House lawmakers “overwhelmingly” supported the death penalty because “[drug-related crimes] na lang ang nabilin.”
President Duterte has vowed to push for the restoration of the death penalty.
After the EDSA People Power that toppled the Marcos regime, President Corazon Aquino promulgated the 1987 Constitution, which abolished the death penalty for all crimes.
All death sentences at the time were reduced to reclusion perpetua, or life imprisonment, according to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
In December 1993, the Ramos administration reimposed capital punishment by virtue of Republic Act (RA) 7659 to address the rising criminality and incidence of heinous crimes, an impression created by high-profile crimes.
But in June 2006 the Philippines again abolished death penalty when then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed RA 9346.
Arroyo is now congresswoman of Pampanga and deputy speaker. She voted against House Bill No. 4727 on Tuesday — a move that reportedly puts her at risk of losing her deputy speakership.
In signing RA 9346, Arroyo said the death penalty had not proven to be a deterrent to crime and had become a dead-letter law. The law again downgraded the death penalty to life imprisonment./PN
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