Senators-elect Villanueva, Pacquiao back death penalty

Manny Pacquiao speaks at a campaign sortie in May shortly before the national election. The boxing champion placed seventh in the senatorial race and was proclaimed on Thursday, May 19.

Two senators-elect have expressed their support for the reimposition of the death penalty as proposed by presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte.

A second placer in the senatorial races and former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) chief, Joel Villanueva on Thursday said he was in favor of the death penalty for heinous crimes.

“Yung mga kasuklam-suklam na krimen, kailangang pagbayaran (For atrocious crimes, the perpetrators should pay for them),” Villanueva, son of Jesus is Lord movement founder Eddie Villanueva, was quoted as saying.

For his part, seventh placer and boxing legend Manny Pacquiao believes the death sentence is “not wrong in the eyes of God.”

“Pabor ako sa death penalty. Gusto kong i-explain sa inyo ha. Sa mata ng Panginoon, hindi bawal yan. Actually death penalty is biblical. I can explain that properly sa batas natin at sa batas ng Panginoon kung bakit kailangan may death penalty (I am in favor of the death penalty. I want to explain. In the eyes of God, it is not wrong. Actually the death penalty is biblical. I can explain that properly in our laws and in God’s law why there should be a death penalty),” the boxer-legislator told reporters also on Thursday.

Pacquiao said Duterte would not be the one deciding who would die.

“Hindi naman ang Presidente ang hahatol ng kamatayan kung hindi ang government (It is the government which will decide who will die, not the President). Authority [for that] was approved by God,” he said.

He said that with the implementation of the death penalty, reforms in the justice system should also be executed.

“Ang kailangan nating suportahan ay ang judiciary natin para pantay ang paghatol ng sentensiya kung may kasalanan ka o wala (We need to support our judiciary system so that it will be fair in meting out sentences, if one has indeed committed a crime or not).”

Duterte, who has been pushing for the reinstatement of the capital punishment, has said he prefers killing criminals by public hanging.

“Those who destroy the lives of our children we will destroy. Those who would kill my country will be killed. Simple as that. No middle ground,” Duterte said during a press briefing in Davao City earlier this week.

The death penalty was abolished in 2006 under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Villanueva and Pacquiao were proclaimed senators by the Commission on Elections, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, along with 10 others on Thursday.

Only 10 of the 12 senators attended the proclamation. RC/rga