Dela Rosa prods Senate to start debates on death penalty bill

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ronaldo “Bato” Dela Rosa prodded his colleagues at the Senate on Wednesday to hear the proposed revival of the death penalty which he said has been languishing for years already.

He lamented that the Senate has not conducted any hearings yet on the measure, which was filed at the start of the 18th Congress in July 2019.

“Hinihingi ko lang is that dapat magkakaroon na ng Senate hearing dun sa mga bill na yun, dahil all those bills were filed at the start of the 18th Congress, so ilang taon na yan dyan hindi man lang umuusad. Wala pang nangyaring hearing,” Dela Rosa told ABS-CBN News on Wednesday.

(All I’m asking is to have a Senate hearing on the bill because all those bills were filed at the start of the 18th Congress, so this has been languishing for years. No hearing has been conducted yet.)

“Presumably, I don’t know the reason but baka ayaw nila ng, yung nasa komite na yan ay ayaw ng death penalty (maybe they don’t want it; those in the committee don’t want it),” he added.

Several bills on death penalty have been referred to the Senate justice and human rights committee, headed by Senator Richard Gordon.

Dela Rosa pointed out that at least seven senators, including him, have filed separate bills pushing for the reimposition of the capital punishment. He said the six others are Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Senators Imee Marcos, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Sherwin Gatchalian, and Christopher “Bong” Go.

Senator Manny Pacquiao has also filed his own version of the bill.

Dela Rosa said he would stick to his bill that aims to impose death penalty for level drug trafficking cases only, though he said other crimes being proposed to be covered by the measure, such as heinous crime, may also be considered during debates.

“I really didn’t want to include murder and other heinous crimes dahil nga yan yung bone of contention ng mga oppositor noon na pwedeng yung mga suspect, dahil nga ang mahirap hindi makapaglaban sa korte, talo, so justice denied para sa kanila, he said.

(I really didn’t want to include murder and other heinous crimes because that’s really the bone of contention of the oppositors, saying that poor suspects would lose in court. so it would be justice denied for them.)

“Pero with that kind of incident siguro, ma-amend natin yung mga bill na yan during the debates…” he added, referring to the case of Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca, who shot dead Sunday a mother and her son in Tarlac after a heated debate.

(But with that kind of incident, maybe we can amend the bills during the debates.)

This “cold-blooded” killing of unarmed civilians by a policeman, Dela Rosa said, may be considered in the discussion on the death penalty bill.

JE