Senate minority will be at forefront of death penalty debates—Bam

Senator Bam Aquino. PHOTO FROM AQUINO MEDIA OFFICE

The newly formed Senate minority will play an active role in opposing the passage of the death penalty, a Senator said Wednesday.

“The minority will play an active role in the debates and we will make sure that counter perspectives are given a space in the Senate,” said Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, who was recently elected as deputy minority leader following the shakeup at the upper chamber.

“Filipino lives are at stake here at karamihan pa sa mga ito’y puro mahihirap na Pilipino na kadalasa’y dehado pagdating sa hukuman at sa mata na batas (and many of them are poor Filipinos who, most of the time, are on the short end when it comes to justice),” he added.

READ: LP holds caucus amid Senate shakeup, death penalty vote

The committee on justice in February started hearing proposals on the reimposition the death penalty, but it was indefinitely suspended on uncertainties that the Philippines might violate the Treaty of International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) it signed and ratified in 1986.

The ICCPR of the United Nations Rights Committee prevents states from carrying out execution as a form of punishment. The Philippines also ratified the Second Protocol to the ICCPR in 2007.

READ: Death penalty: PH told to honor int’l treaty

During that hearing, Aquino asked his fellow lawmakers to discuss the issue with foreign affairs officials especially the international treaties in connection with the reinstatement of death penalty, because “the move will also affect some of the treaties, conventions, and agreements we’ve already signed up to,” Aquino said.

He also expressed that he wanted economic managers to speak about the “impact of death penalty on jobs and trade agreements entered into by the government in the past.”

“Napakabigat ng isyung ito. Hindi dapat madaliin ang debate, lalo na’t makikinig ang publiko sa mga argumento sa Senado,” he added.

(This is a serious issue. We should not rush the debates, especially because the public is paying attention to the arguments in the Senate.) IDL