Senator Ping Lacson answers questions from the media in this photo taken in October 2021 in the Senate. INQUIRER file photo / EDWIN BACASMAS
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirant Senator Panfilo Lacson is now having second thoughts regarding his stance on the reimposition of the death penalty in the country over concerns of wrongful convictions.
“Ako nagpa-file ako lagi ng bill tungkol sa death penalty pero alam mo maraming mga development. Ako mismo ngayon nagdadalawang isip kasi alam mo merong mga true to life stories, accounts sa ibang bansa na na-excute nang walang kasalanan,” Lacson told DZRJ radio on Tuesday.
(I always file bills regarding the death penalty but there have been a lot of developments on the matter. I, myself, am having thoughts because there are true to life stories, accounts in other countries where someone was executed despite not really committing the crime.)
The senator stressed the need to carefully examine proposals seeking to revive capital punishment in the country.
“Ito yung dapat pag-aralang mabuti, ano ang mas matimbang, yung magiging biktima ng mga kriminal na talagang notorious o yung isa namang mapaparusahan, makikitilan ng buhay pero after all, malalaman pala na walang kasalanan,” he said.
(This is what we should be studying carefully, which carries more weight, the possible victims of notorious criminals or the life of someone who may be wrongfully convicted.)
“Dapat timbangin natin mabuti yun (We should weight those two things),” he added.
In 2019, Lacson filed a bill seeking to reimpose the death penalty amid the “alarming surge of heinous crimes in recent years.”
The Philippine abolished the death penalty in 2006 under then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Under Lacson’s measure, the crimes that would be punishable by death include treason, qualified piracy, qualified bribery, parricide, murder, infanticide, rape, kidnapping and illegal detention, robbery with violence and intimidation of persons, destructive arson, and human trafficking, among others.
The death penalty will also apply to crimes such as plunder, drug-related activities, and terrorism under the bill earlier filed by Lacson.