Though a Duterte ally, Zubiri says no to death penalty

FILE-  Students stage a noise barrage against the death penalty bill along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City. —ALEXIS CORPUZ

He may be an administration ally but Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri is standing firm against the death penalty as he had made a commitment to God that he would protect   the sanctity of life.

When he won during the last elections, Zubiri said he also made another commitment to God: “I’m going to do it right this time and I’ll vote using my conscience.”

“It’s my personal conviction e. Ako, I’m an ally of the President. I consider myself an ally of the President but there are certain things that I vote with my conscience,” said the senator, who is part of the Senate  majority bloc.

Zubiri said he had already  talked  to Senate President Aquilino  Pimentel III, president of  PDP-Laban, and asked that  they be allowed to vote on the death penalty bill according to their conscience.

He said he is open on other  measures being pushed  by the administration  like the tax reforms, Charter Change, and the shift to federalism but not on the death penalty issue.

“Iba ito e. Buhay  ng tao ang  pinag-uusapan dito,” the senator pointed out.

The proposed restoration of the death penalty in the country has been approved in the House of Representatives but remains pending at the Senate committee on justice and human rights chaired by Senator Richard Gordon.

Gordon is also part of the majority bloc but is against  the proposed measure.

Aside from Zubiri and  Gordon, three other  majority  members — Senate President Pro Tempore  Ralph  Recto and Senators Francis Escudero and  Nancy Binay — have expressed their position against the measure.

All six members of the Senate minority bloc have vowed to block the passage of the death penalty bill. The six  are Minority Leader Franklin Drilon,  Senators Francis Pangilinan,  Bam Aquino, Leila de Lima, Risa Hontiveros and  Antonio Trillanes IV./ac/rga