THE GOVERNMENT should concentrate on saving lives and quelling the coronavirus pandemic now and just allow the next administration to worry about the proposal to bring back the death penalty.
We’re now in the middle of a public health disaster that has already demolished the livelihood and jobs of millions of Filipinos. Congress prioritizing the reviving capital punishment for heinous crimes at this time of pandemic and economic recession is just ludicrous.
Both Malacañang and Congress should focus on suppressing COVID-19, stabilizing a dangerously teetering economy and recovering lost jobs, instead of wasting time on the death penalty. Frankly, it is an exercise in futility.
First of all, Congress realistically lacks the time to work on the death penalty.
Secondly, in less than 22 months, we will be electing a new President and a new Congress, so we might as well let the next administration worry about the highly divisive proposal.
Thirdly, even assuming Congress reinstates the death penalty tomorrow, the President still won’t see any judicial executions being carried out for the remainder of his term.
The last time Congress passed a law reimposing capital punishment in 1993, the first death verdict was not carried out until 1999, or until six years later, due to legal challenges and mandatory review.
Instead of renewing death sentences, the government should instead press for wide-ranging reforms in the criminal justice system. There is a need to stamp out rampant corruption in law enforcement, the prosecution service, the judiciary, and in prisons.
We have to ensure that every felon is apprehended, prosecuted, convicted and locked up. This is our best strategy to fight crime – to discourage other would-be offenders.
