Death penalty debates cut; foes cry railroading

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. CDN FILE PHOTO/Junjie Mendoza

The debate on the death penalty bill drew to a close on Wednesday evening with only seven of 50 lawmakers given time to question the sponsors after the leadership of the House of Representatives decided it had had enough of “repetitive” arguments.

“The arguments are just being repeated over and over that no one wants to listen anymore,” Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez told the Inquirer.

The unceremonious end of the discussions sparked complaints that the bill was being railroaded.

The House leadership had said it would allow an “exhaustive debate” for 30 days but only 10 session days were spent for it.

In the past couple of weeks, deliberations had been stalled by quorum calls and other parliamentary tactics employed by opponents of the bill, including Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza and Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza.

The delaying tactics prompted Alvarez and Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas to hasten the proceeding.

The bill goes on second reading once individual amendments have been introduced. Then after a final version is printed out and distributed to all House members after three days, the bill will be subject to a vote on third reading. If passed, it will be transmitted to the Senate, where discussions have stalled to await a justice department opinion on whether the measure would contravene the country’s commitment to international conventions.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, a majority member opposed to the bill, said he was dismayed that the debates were “prematurely cut.”

“I don’t think that all the issues and primary problems on the death penalty bill have been answered satisfactorily,” said Zarate.

“It is definitely unacceptable to railroad the passage of the death penalty bill because for burning issues such as this, congressional deliberations are not just for its members alone—they are also for the people,” said ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio.

Under the proposed death penalty law, penal provisions for “heinous offenses” like treason, plunder, drug sale and manufacture, rape with homicide, rape of a minor and rape by a law enforcement officer, shall be amended to reclusion perpetua, or a jail sentence of 20 to 40 years, to death.

A previous version of the bill included other crimes like murder, qualified piracy, and kidnapping for ransom, but the list was reduced to make it more acceptable to the majority.

Plunder was supposed to be among those delisted, but it was put back after criticisms that it had been removed as a self-preservation measure by the House members.

The death penalty bill is one of the legislative priorities of the Duterte administration but is facing tough opposition from Church and human rights groups.

Vice President Leni Robredo said on Wednesday the Liberal Party (LP) had reached a decision to oppose the bill, but its members belonging to the Duterte-controlled supermajority in Congress were free to vote in favor of it anyway.

“What was decided upon was that even if there is a party stand, there shall be no sanctions on those who will not comply,” she said in a chance interview.

The party is split into two groups in the 293-seat lower house: 29 Liberals led by former Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. are with the supermajority, while five led by Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman have formed an opposition bloc, along with three others.

Early this month, Alvarez threatened to strip House deputy speakers and committee chairs of their positions if they did not vote for the bill.

A number of LP members in the supermajority currently hold committee chairmanships, including Belmonte who leads a special panel on South China Sea claims. Deputy Speaker Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo is the highest-ranking Liberal in the chamber.