Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. INQUIRER.net and INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Wednesday called on Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to allow a conscience vote on the proposed bill reimposing death penalty, which hurdled the House of Representatives committee Tuesday.
In a statement, the Liberal Party lawmaker said the Speaker must allow lawmakers to present differing views and debate on the death penalty.
Lagman said Alvarez “must liberate members of the majority coalition to advocate differing views and assure free debate on the revival of capital punishment.”
He made the statement about the lower House dominated by a supermajority of allies of President Rodrigo Duterte as Alvarez made the call to have the death penalty passed before the Christmas break.
READ: House to approve death penalty bill before Christmas break
Lagman said the approval before the House justice subcommittee on judicial reforms was railroaded due to the presence of ex-officio members who outnumbered the regular members in the sub-committee.
READ: Death penalty inches forward in House
He added that the “the precipitate approval… was vitiated by non-compliance with the prior 3-calendar day notice rule to the members informing them of the scheduled meeting, abrupt termination of the testimonies of resource persons and absence of a requisite committee report.”
He added that the authors of the proposition failed to show compelling reasons to restore death penalty as required for under the 1987 Constitution.
Lagman was among the lawmakers who led the move in Congress to abolish the death penalty in 2006. He was also the principal author of the Reproductive Health law.
On Tuesday, six congressmen voted for a substitute bill reimposing capital punishment for heinous crimes, such as illegal drugs, murder, rape, arson, and kidnapping. Another five voted for a version that would limit the death penalty to illegal drug-related crimes.
READ: House panel approves revival of death penalty
Now that it was approved on the sub-committee, it would be forwarded to the mother committee for subsequent approval, before being forwarded to the plenary for debates and amendments.
It was Alvarez who first filed the bill seeking to reimpose the death penalty after former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo abolished capital punishment in 2006 for its failure to deter crime.
Alvarez filed the bill pursuant to President Duterte’s campaign promise of returning capital punishment against heinous criminals.
READ: First bill in Congress seeks reinstatement of death penalty
Alvarez’s bill sought to reimpose the death penalty for heinous crimes listed under Republic Act 7659, including murder, plunder, rape, kidnapping and serious illegal detention, sale, use and possession of illegal drugs, carnapping with homicide, among others.
In the bill he co-authored with deputy speaker Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro, Alvarez said there is a need to reimpose the death penalty because “the national crime rate has grown to such alarming proportions requiring an all-out offensive against all forms of felonious acts.”
“Philippine society is left with no option but to deal with certain grievous offenders in a manner commensurate to the gravity, perversity, atrociousness and repugnance of their crimes,” according to the bill.
READ: ‘Death penalty back in one year’
Duterte won the elections on a campaign promise to restore the death penalty by hanging.
Alvarez said Congress would look into the cheapest way for the death penalty, either by firing squad, lethal injection or by hanging. IDL
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