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