Death penalty bill a ‘fascist attack’ vs people—youth group

A student group on Tuesday denounced the move of the Duterte administration to railroad the death penalty bill and called it a “fascist attack” against the people after its approval on second reading.

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas last week said that the committee on rules will field House Bill 4727 in the plenary for third reading and final approval this Tuesday.

READ: Death penalty bill up for final House approval next week

“There is no place for death penalty especially if our current justice system only caters [to] the interest of the few ruling elite and foreign entities. A death sentence under the anti-poor and rotten system will only be used to enforce the fascist rule of the administration,” League of Filipino Students (LFS) national spokesperson JP Rosos said in a statement.

“Numerous violations of human rights and civil liberties are undeniable under this administration. There is always the ‘nanlaban’ (fought back) reason for killing alleged drug pushers and users. There [are] summary killings [of] those alleged members of CPP-NPA-NDFP. Death penalty will only legitimize the pile of dead bodies under Duterte’s Marcosian rule,” Rosos added.

He said that Duterte’s regime has gone “berserk” and cited that it is now using its machinery to start an all-out war against the people, having more than 7,000 killed in the war on drugs, commanding the military in a “killing spree” in the countryside and using  Congress to pass the death penalty.

“By the day, the crimes of Duterte against the people increase,” he said.

He pointed out that the death penalty is only another face of the fascist attacks on the people, and said that it will be “one of the biggest legitimized crimes against the people.”

“It is only a cover-up [of] the failure of Duterte to fulfill his promise to eradicate crimes. This administration has once again failed to address the root cause of crimes just like how it failed to address the root cause of drugs—poverty. And just like its fascist approach [to] the drug issue, Duterte will start another round of killings,” Rosos added. RAM/rga