House still eyes to pass death penalty bill before Christmas break

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Thursday said the House of Representatives was still eyeing to pass the bills restoring capital punishment and lowering the minimum age of criminal liability, two main legislative thrusts of the Duterte administration, before it adjourns for the Christmas break.

“As far as we are concerned sa (in the) House of Representatives, ang balak po namin ay ipasa iyon bago po mag-Christmas break (we plan to pass these bill before the Christmas break),” Alvarez said in an ambush interview in the thanksgiving party of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

Alvarez reiterated the target after the House justice committee on Wednesday conducted hearings for both proposals.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the death penalty needs to be revived to send a chilling effect to criminals. The Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Commission on Human Rights both opposed lowering the minimum age of criminal liability.

READ: Aguirre to solons: Death penalty will instill fear among criminals

Alvarez noted that President Rodrigo Duterte himself wants the bills on death penalty and lowering criminal liability age for juvenile offenders from the current 15 years old to nine, to be prioritized, pursuant to his campaign promise.

It was Alvarez who filed the bills seeking to reinstate death penalty for heinous crimes and to lower the criminal age of liability, the first and second bills filed in the new Congress under the Duterte administration.

READ: First bill in Congress seeks reinstatement of death penalty

The death penalty was abolished in 2006 under former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. RAM/rga