VACC head urges return of death penalty

Anticrime crusader Dante Jimenez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Anticrime crusader Dante Jimenez on Monday urged the government to consider bringing back the death penalty or at the very least, put in place steeper punishments following the spate of gun violence this month.

Jimenez, president and founding chair of the anticrime watchdog Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) told Radyo Inquirer 990 AM in an interview how political will was important at a time when there was a “high tolerance for criminality.”

He raised the need for gun ban, citing the recent shootout between the police and a suspected gun-for-hire group in Atimonan, Quezon.

Jimenez noted the high profile crimes in Calabarzon that have been the subject of headlines, saying “Calabarzon is a problematic region now. After the NCR, this is where syndicates thrive.”

Criminals, he said,  have become fearless since the death penalty was abolished.

“Wala nang takot ang mga tao [matapos na tanggalin] ang death penalty sa statute. Ang mga nangyayari na ito ay sintomas na wala nang kinatatakutan ang mga criminal. [Pero] takot rin sila sa kamatayan.”

“Ang argumento ng mga ayaw ay yung certainty of arrest, certainty of prosecution, certainty of judgement. But what is certain sa amin ay may patay, may biktima,” he said, backing calls for the cancellation of gun owners’ permits to carry while authorities sought a solution for rising crimes.