MANILA, Philippines—President Macapagal-Arroyo is sticking by her policy on capital punishment even as moves to reimpose the death penalty gained support in Congress amid the public furor over the bribery-tainted dismissal of drug charges against three young men from influential families.

“The President has always stood by the stand of the Church, which is against the imposition of the death penalty,’’ said Secretary Cerge Remonde.

But Malacañang was not closing its door on public debates to revive the death penalty to deal with big-time drug traffickers, said Remonde, head of the Presidential Management Staff.

“We will listen to the discussions if this is tackled in the appropriate forum. However, there are those who still believe that the death penalty is not the answer to heinous crimes, such as drug trafficking,’’ he said.

Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon said he would file a bill seeking to restore capital punishment for drug traffickers.

Revival of bill

In the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri said he would push for the revival of a bill that he filed seven months ago seeking the re-imposition of the death penalty on heinous crimes like drug trafficking and multiple murders.

The issue of reimposing the death penalty has been revived following the incident involving the three young men known as the “Alabang Boys,” who were arrested by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in a buy-bust operation last September, but whose case was dismissed by the justice department under highly controversial circumstances.

PDEA agents claimed that prosecutors at the Department of Justice were bribed into dismissing the case against Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson, called the “Alabang Boys” because two of them are residents of village enclaves in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

The 1987 Constitution abolished capital punishment but Congress reimposed it on Jan. 1, 1993. But in 2006, on the eve of Ms Arroyo’s visit to the Vatican, Congress repealed the Death Penalty Law as well as the 1996 amendment prescribing death by lethal injection for those convicted of heinous crimes.

Act of self-defense

Dangerous Drugs Board chair Vicente Sotto III said he would submit his proposal of the death penalty for drug traffickers to Congress for debate.

“It is an act of self-defense for society and the victims’ families,’’ he said.

Remonde said that Sotto and Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco, authors of the law that created the PDEA, were looking at reviving their original proposal to give the DDB or PDEA prosecutorial powers.

“What they’re seeing is lack of cooperation and coordination between and among enforcement, prosecution and even judiciary. Their original proposal is that within the DDB and PDEA system will be divisions including enforcement, prosecution and rehabilitation,’’ he said.

House Speaker Prospero Nograles said if the House committee on drug abuse and dangerous drugs endorses the proposal to revive the death penalty, he would support it.