Death bill: Sotto says Drilon wrong

It’s not over till it’s over.

A senator supporting judicial execution and an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Thursday agreed that the Senate death penalty bill is not dead—at least not yet.

Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III scoffed at Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon’s assessment that the Senate death penalty bill is dead, saying it was premature to say so, because the chamber has not even debated upon it.

“He (Drilon) is wrong because the debates have not even started and we are still a far cry from voting on it,” Sotto said in a phone interview.

Sotto reacted to Drilon’s statement counting 13 senators—six from the minority and seven from the majority—as the sources of votes that would doom the restoration of death penalty.

Fr. Jerome Secillano, CBCP public affairs committee executive secretary, said the battle against the proposed measure would not be over until senators vote.

But he said Drilon’s assessment was sweet music to the Church’s ears. “The Catholic Church welcomes it with guarded optimism,” Secillano said.

The CBCP had taken a firm stand against restoring death penalty.

The measure remains pending in the Senate despite being passed in the House of Representatives.

The justice and human rights committee, chaired by Duterte ally Sen. Richard Gordon, is awaiting a Department of Justice opinion on whether a United Nations protocol barring the Philippines from restoring the death penalty is part of Philippine laws.

Sotto, author of one of the death penalty bills, said he was confident the Senate would pass the measure.

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