The policemen allegedly behind the abduction and murder of 53-year-old South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo may end up as “poster boys” for the proposed restoration of the death penalty, Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said on Thursday.
While he, “in principle,” remained against the capital punishment, Recto conceded that “cruelty and impunity inflicted in crimes like the one that victimized the Korean is beginning to define what a super heinous crime that may be punishable by death is.”
The victim was reportedly taken by police at his home in his Angeles City in Pampanga province last October 18. He was killed even after his wife allegedly paid a P5-million ransom.
READ: Wife of slain Korean: What did we do to deserve this?
“In terms of how dastardly a crime is, we are seeing examples of a higher bar in which death penalty, in the eyes of its advocates, could be imposed,” Recto said in a statement.
“Ito yung mga complex crimes, halimbawa kinidnap ang isang minor, drinoga, tinorture, sinaktan, pinagnakawan, ni-rape, tapos pinatay pa at sinunog pa. ‘Yung ganoong karumal-dumal na krimen ang may taglay na powerful emotional argument for death penalty.”
(This is an example of complex crime, like, if a minor is kidnapped, drugged, tortured, abused, robbed, raped, killed and then burned. A crime as heinous as that has a powerful emotional argument for death penalty.)
“Pero kung ordinaryong pagpatay lang o carnapping at wala nang iba pang aggravating circumstances, sa tingin ko hindi ‘yan masasama sa catalog of crimes punishable by death. Kulong lang habambuhay,” the senator added.
(But if it’s just an ordinary murder or car theft with no aggravating circumstances, I don’t think it will be included in the catalog of crimes punishable by death. It may just merit life imprisonment.)
Asked in a text message if he is now keeping an open mind after the brutal murder of the victim, Recto said he was just explaining how he thought the debates on the proposed revival of the death penalty would proceed.
“I am fundamentally against death penalty. That’s in the statement,” he stressed.
READ: Recto not closing doors on reimposing death penalty, but…
Still in the statement, the senator acknowledged that the debates on the death penalty would be infused “with actual examples of heinous crimes in which the demand for a greater restitution is high.”
“It will go beyond theories and studies. Actual examples will be used by both sides. The pro will parade examples of heinous crimes. While the antis will cite successes of the power of rehabilitative justice,” he said.
“Tulad halimbawa ng isang Abu Sayyaf na nandukot ng isang dosenang tao, pinahirapan, ginutom, ni-rape, tapos pinugutan ng ulo (For example, an Abu Sayyaf rebel kidnaps a dozen people, tortures them, starves them, rapes them and beheads them). How can these be arguments for clemency?”
Recto said the long list of crimes of punishable by death would not pass muster in the legislature.
“Kung Noah’s Ark of crimes punishable by death, hindi papasa. Pero kung limited sa super heinous, na bloodcurdling, truly atrocious, complex crimes, diyan magkakatalo,” he said.
(If it will include a Noah’s Ark of crimes punishable by death, I don’t think it will pass. But if it’s super heinous and bloodcurdling, truly atrocious, complex crimes, I think they have a case.)
Still, he said, the final vote would be influenced by a large constituency in the middle of the death penalty question.
The senator also believes that the proposed death penalty bill should be accompanied with a measure that will modernize the police force and reform the judicial system.
“The certainty of arrest and conviction is a better deterrent against crime. Maraming akyat-bahay ang nagkakaroon ng lakas ng loob kasi alam nila na wala namang pulis na nagpapatrol o kung tawagan man ay matagal rumispunde dahil walang gasolina ang patrol car (There are those who rob homes because they know there are no cops or the cops will be late to respond because their patrol cars do not have fuel),“ Recto said. IDL/rga