Pacquiao: Majority of senators back death penalty but only for drugs

FILE – PG1 Montecarlo Caluag shows the facilities inside the Lethal Injection Chamber in New Bilibid Prison.  INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines— More than 13 or the majority of 24 senators would vote if the proposed reimposition of the death penalty would be limited to drugs only, Senator Manny Pacquiao said on Wednesday.

It was Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who earlier claimed that the proposed revival of the death penalty would get the support of at least 13 senators.

Sotto and Pacquiao are among the senators who have filed the death penalty bill since the 18th Congress opened last July 1.

READ: Sotto counts at least 13 senators voting for restoration of death penalty

Pacquiao said the bill would get the Senate approval but only if the death penalty would be imposed for heinous crimes related to drugs.

“Meron naman. Sobra pa yata. Sa drugs lang,” he said when asked if they could get at least 13 votes in the Senate.

Pressed if they have 13 votes in favor of the bill, Pacquiao said: “Baka mahigit pa. Sa drugs lang.”

But President Rodrigo Duterte wants plunderers to be covered by the death penalty.

Pacquiao said he prefers that the death penalty be imposed first for drugs, and just include plunders later on to avoid lengthy debates.

“Sa tingin ko kung mahirapan maipasa dahil sa sabay ang plunder at saka sa drugs, mas mabuti unahin muna natin yung drugs. Kapag nandyan na, existing na yung death penatly sa atin, activated na, and then saka natin pag usapan ulit yung plunder,” he explained.

The boxing champ-turned-senator reiterated that the death penalty is legal and allowed even in the Bible./ac

READ: Pacquiao invokes Bible to defend death penalty