Sotto: ‘Criminals have more fun in PH’

Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III took the floor on Wednesday, lamenting that “criminals have more fun in the Philippines,” to press for the  reimposition of the death  penalty in the country for certain heinous crimes.

“I stand once more advocating the return of the death penalty for certain heinous crimes like murder, rape and drug trafficking,” Sotto, an opposition member, said in a privilege speech.

“These past many years without a death penalty, we have become a virtual wild, wild west in these eastern islands. Whether it be murder, rape, drug manufacturing, pushing and using, the numbers are on the rise. Criminals have more fun in the Philippines,” he said.

Sotto then enumerated the recent crimes reported in the news, including the murder of the 75-year-old mother of  actress Cherry Pie Picache, who was killed at home, and the case of a 91-year-old woman, who was reportedly killed and raped.

“It seems that these criminals are no longer afraid of committing heinous crimes. Even large-scale drug syndicates find it very convenient to put up drug laboratories in the Philippines. They perpetuate crimes without fear of being caught and punished by lifetime imprisonment,” he said.

The senator said the influx of heinous crimes committed poses an alarming situation in the country nowadays.

The “indiscriminate and horrendous brutality” happening everywhere, he said, had compelled him to file Senate Bill No. 2080 or an Act Imposing Death Penalty in the Philippines.

”I know the objections to the reimposition of the death penalty,” he said.

The first objection, he said, is that the country supposedly has an “imperfect system of justice.”

“Baka daw walang sala ang maparusahan ng kamatayan (No one might be meted with the death penalty). Mr. President, in a human world, nothing is perfect. This is no reason not to provide for the death penalty. Otherwise, let us not provide any penalty anymore for any crime, because we have an imperfect system,” he said.

The second objection, Sotto, said, is that the death penalty would not deter criminals.

“I beg to disagree. No Filipino overseas worker now seriously thinks of being a drug courier in China. They don’t joke about the death penalty there. Is this not proof of the deterrent effect of the death penalty?”

“Furthermore, the lethally-injected criminal has been deterred to kingdom come. He can continue his crime in another world.”

He said the third objection is that only the poor would get the death penalty.

But Sotto said: “We now have the Public Attorney’s Office and the Legal Aid Office of the IBP (Integrated Bar of the Philippines) and UP (University of the Philippines). Everyone is going to get his day in court.  In the 1960’s the President then sent four rich boys to the next world on conviction of rape.”

“In conclusion, let me ask my colleagues that we revisit the issue of the death penalty. There are now compelling reasons to do so. The next crime may be nearer to our homes, if not yet there.”

“When society and government was created, according to sociologists and political scientists, the law of revenge in the hands of each one of us, was given to the government. We in government must yield that power now, or else we shall regret its absence in our future,” the senator added.

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