CBCP to take death penalty bill to SC
The Supreme Court is expected to be the next battleground for the proponents and challengers of the death penalty should lawmakers succeed in railroading the passage of the bill reviving the proposed punishment for heinous crimes.
This developed as an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced its support for lawmakers expressing opposition to the reimposition of the death penalty.
Rudy Diamante, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Commission on Prison Pastoral Care, said the bishops would exhaust all legal means to question the bill once it is enacted into law.
“We will go to the Supreme Court. We will exhaust all legal means available because we believe that it is unconstitutional. It is cruel. It is inhumane,” he said in a press forum in Manila on Monday.
Diamante said there were two ways to dispute the restoration of death penalty in the high court: having a prisoner sentenced to death question it; or through lawmakers who ratified the Philippines’ international treaty obligation against death penalty.
The CBCP official made the statement following the “Walk for Life” prayer rally against the death penalty and extrajudicial killings organized by Catholic lay people on Saturday.
Lawmakers from the House of Representatives are currently holding plenary debates on the bill for the reinstatement of the death penalty, after which they will vote on the measure.
House Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas Jr. said voting on the death penalty bill would take place on Feb. 28, a few days earlier than the initially agreed March 8 schedule.
This was one of the agreements reached at the nearly three-hour majority caucus meeting, where the lawmakers decided to continue with the plenary debates.
Sought for comment, Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin said antideath penalty lawmakers like him would “exhaust all parliamentary means to stall this seeming railroad.”
“We can’t do deadlines when passing this very important measure. Taking away life is not something to be taken lightly nor to be rushed,” Villarin said.
The bill is a priority legislation of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who vowed to restore the death penalty, one of President Duterte’s campaign promises.
