Lawmakers confident that Senate will pass dealth penalty bill
With Senate President Vicente Sotto III leading the Senate, some members of the House of Representatives are positive that the bill which seeks the reimposition of the death penalty for drug-related offenses would get the nod in the upper chamber.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, who supported House Bill 4727, said Sotto’s openness to the bill was a “welcome development.”
“Ngayon, magandang development na mismong Senate President would go for the death penalty for all perpetrators of crime na drug related (It is a welcome development that the Senate President himself supports the revival of the death penalty for drug-related offenses),” Barbers said in a press conference on Monday.
“Sa tingin ko, ito’y isang magandang paraan para magkaroon din ng ngipin ang giyera kontra droga (I think it is also a good way to strengthen the war on drugs),” he added.
Sotto, who is among the leading proponents of reviving the death penalty in the Senate, earlier said the bill can already get more than 13 votes if the measure would only cover high-level drug traffickers.
READ: Sotto: Revival of death penalty can garner more than 13 votes in Senate, if…
Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., CIBAC Rep. Sherwin Tugna, and 1-CARE Rep. Carlos Uybarreta, welcomed Sotto’s pronouncement, but Amin Rep. Amihilda Sangcopan reiterated her party’s opposition to the death penalty.
Sangcopan cited the bill’s dangerous implications for Muslims. She explained that the concept of forgiveness, mercy, and compassion is important to them. However, the bill may also put Muslims, especially those residing in Metro Manila, at a disadvantage since they are usually discriminated upon and slapped with unscrupulous charges under Sec. 5 and 11 of the Dangerous Drugs Act.
Barbers, Teves, and Tugna agreed that there is no need to refile the bill now as the ball is in Senate’s court.
“They can always put additional provisions and we can reach a compromise during bicam,” Teves said.
Voting 217-54 with one abstention, the lower House passed a bill allowing the state to legally execute drug lords and drug pushers through the restoration of the death penalty on March 7, 2017.
READ: House OKs death penalty bill on final reading
The Senate hearings, however, were earlier shelved to allow “Malacañang time to clarify if reviving death penalty would not violate any international treaty against capital punishment.” /ee
READ: No Senate OK seen for death bill
