Poe, Duterte at odds over revival of death penalty

LUCENA CITY – Presidential aspirant Senator Grace Poe on Friday declared her opposition to the revival of the death penalty espoused by her rival candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

“What is alarming about the death penalty is you cannot wipe out all the criminals even if you kill some of them),” Poe said in Pilipino in response to a question on her stand on the death penalty.

Duterte has been calling for the return of the death penalty for heinous crimes like plunder, illegal drug possession, rape, and kidnapping saying executing hardened criminals can be an effective deterrent to criminality.

In an apparent rebuke to Duterte’s favorite line of public execution of criminals to maintain peace and order, Poe said:  “There is no need to shoot (criminals), what is important is to just do your job.’

Poe said that most often, even in America, the victims of death penalty are poor and have no means to defend themselves during court trials.

The death penalty was suspended during the administration of then president and current Manila Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and was repealed in the 13th Congress during the term of then president and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Ironically, one of Poe’s strong supporters and re-electionist Senator Vicente Sotto III recently filed a bill that aims to bring back the death penalty for heinous crimes. His bill remains pending at the Senate.

Poe urged the government to reform the justice system as solution to lawlessness and criminality.

She said the country’s judicial system is most often tilted in favor of the rich and influential people.

Poe urged the courts to speed up trials, for the national government to provide the right compensation to judges as a deterrent to corruption, to strictly implement the law and ensure fair penalty to all lawbreakers.

She also lamented the massive anomalies inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.

She said that if she would be elected president and would become frustrated with jail anomalies, she vowed that she would hold office inside the prison facility to stop all shenanigans by jail officials and inmates.#