MERGED: Reinstate Death Penalty?

[klavel]

^ i agree, as long as it's under those conditions. Some countries have death penalty for drug trafficing. "Singapore has some of the strictest drug trafficking laws in the world, and anyone found with 15g of heroin faces a mandatory death penalty." An Australian was sentenced to death for smuggling 400g heroin in the singapore airport.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4487366.stm

^^super agree ko ani..stricter rules would have to be implemented (in our country) to at least prevent from making our dear land as drug haven...

[grabehbebe]

GMA sets review of death cases
Commutation to life on case-to-case basis

Legal & moral issues considered, Palace says

President Arroyo will implement a "case-to-case" review of the sentences of 1,205 convicts on Death Row pending commutation to life imprisonment, Malacañang said yesterday as it assured that there will be no execution until her term expires in 2010.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President is still awaiting the recommendation by the Department of Justice (DoJ) whether death sentences affirmed to be final and executory by the Supreme Court (SC) can now be commuted to life imprisonment.

"This does not mean that all death sentences will immediately be commuted (to life imprisonment) because the cases are still being reviewed," he said of the 81 Death Row convicts whose sentences have already been affirmed by the SC.

Official estimates showed that there are about 1,205 convicts who have been sentenced to die through lethal injection, 81 of whom have been awaiting the schedule of their execution following the High Court’s final and executory ruling of their sentences.

Ermita, whose office screens the list of inmates qualified for executive clemency either by pardon, parole, or commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment, said the President’s decision to commute all death sentences was for "compassionate reason."

"Right now, our President sees it fit to grant them, especially the elderly and terminally ill inmates, the commutation of sentence for compassionate reason," he said.

According to him, it is the President’s prerogative, vested upon her by the 1987 Constitution, to grant executive clemency or presidential reprieve, depending on various circumstances and conditions without violating the law.

"Now, the President thinks that it is her policy to commute (death sentences) of those in the Death Row," he said, adding that the initial outrage against Mrs. Arroyo’s decision was understandable, especially among those who were victims of heinous crimes.

Meanwhile, in a press statement, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the President has taken into consideration both legal and moral issues when she decided to grant the general commutation of all death sentences to a life imprisonment.

"The President’s latest action affirms her deeply held personal Christian values and does not violate the Constitutional separation of powers. As in many instances in the past, she is placing her position on the line while acknowledging negative reactions," he said.

Meanwhile, House Deputy Majority Leader Edcel C. Lagman said yesterday the President’s constitutional power to grant clemency to convicts is more ascendant to both a penal statute enacted by Congress and a final conviction promulgated by the Supreme Court.

Lagman, principal author of House Bill No. 4826 which consolidated 15 bills and one resolution seeking the repeal of the Death Penalty Law, in debunking the contention of some "legal experts" that the commutation to life imprisonment of death sentences declared by President Arroyo "was an affront to the powers of Congress and the SC."

Lagman said that the criticism branding the President’s action as violative of the separation of powers is grossly misplaced because the constitutional allocation of the power to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons to the President is pursuant to the principle of checks and balances.

He added that "in fact, the application of the doctrine of separation of powers prevents Congress from passing a law which would delute or circumscribe the power of the President to grant clemency and enjoins the SC from reviewing the wisdom or reasonableness of the President’s exercise of her power to commute sentences and grant pardons after final conviction."

Also yesterday, the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP) urged Congress to flesh out President Arroyo’s decision to commute all death sentences to life by passing a measure that would abolish the law that restored death penalty.

"Congress should follow up on the President’s act of compassion by working for the abolition of the death penalty," Fr. Romeo Intengan, one of the founders of the PDSP, said in a statement.

Since Mrs. Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001, no death convict has been put to death. On several occasion, she had stayed the execution of convicts whose dates of execution through lethal injection had been set by the courts.

The social democratic priest expressed understanding for the deep hurt and pain felt by families and friends of victims of crime, and the opposition to the commutation of the death penalty to life imprisonment.

However, he pointed out that there is no clear basis that the death penalty really deters crime. (with a report by Roy C. Mabasa)

http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN2006041961744.html
By FERDIE J. MAGLALANG

[grabehbebe]

Palace: GMA may retain death penalty for terrorists


President Arroyo may allow some exceptions to her decision to abolish the death penalty, taking note that the wholesale commutation of death row sentences to life imprisonment could weaken the anti-terror efforts of the government.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said at a press conference at Malacañang yesterday there were ongoing efforts to reconcile proposals to abolish the death penalty with the pending anti-terrorism bill.

Both measures have been certified as urgent by the President, he said. The proposed anti-terrorism bill imposes the death penalty for some offenses.

Ermita noted that abolishing the death penalty for convicted terrorists might send a weak signal to the international community on its global effort against terrorism.

"There is no qualification as to whether the decision of the President to commute would be based on the type of crimes that have been committed but definitely, as time goes on, especially if we feel that — let’s say if we already have the bill on anti-terrorism and there is an upsurge of such crime — then maybe the President would have a change of mind," Ermita said.

Ermita clarified that he was only speaking hypothetically.

He said it would up to Mrs. Arroyo to undertake a review of her policy in case the anti-terrorism bill is enacted into law or in the event of an increase in heinous crimes.

"But for the moment her policy is the commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment," Ermita said.

Ermita pointed out Mrs. Arroyo has been consistent in her resolve to stop executions during her administration.

She had commuted the sentences of 104 inmates as of March 21 this year, of which 80 cases had been affirmed by the Supreme Court, he said.

While there are currently 1,222 death convicts, only the 80 cases would so far be covered by Mrs. Arroyo’s policy as the rest have yet to be affirmed by the Supreme Court, Ermita said.

For his part, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said the abolition of the death penalty would not weaken the government’s anti-terrorism campaign.

Gonzales pointed out some European countries do not impose capital punishment but have been very successful in their fight against terror.

"What’s important is that these terrorists will not be allowed to go out and cause death and destruction again," Gonzales told The STAR.

There had been claims that the commutation of death sentences was made in a bid to appease the Catholic Church over certain political issues.

And there were apprehensions that the abolition of the death penalty would trigger a resurgence of vigilante crime.

"Crime is not solved by committing another crime. Justice is always on the righteous side," Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao said.

Lomibao warned vigilantes against taking the law into their own hands or resorting to the "Wild, Wild West way" following the President’s decision to commute all current death sentences.

Lomibao assured the police will not allow vigilantism as a form of retribution against criminal offenders.

"Such judicial shortcuts will only lead us back to the discarded ‘Wild, Wild West’ days where justice comes from the barrel of the gun, often weighing more heavily against the weak than the strong," he said.

Certified urgent

Notwithstanding the appeal for reconsideration, Mrs. Arroyo declared yesterday she had already certified as urgent all proposals seeking to abolish the death penalty.

Mrs. Arroyo again took potshots at the opposition-dominated Senate, expecting a delay in the approval of her priority bills.

She added the Senate, not the death penalty advocates, will certainly block the measure to abolish the death penalty law.

"I expect problems… because they (senators) are very slow in legislating," Mrs. Arroyo told reporters when asked whether the bill would be urgently passed by Congress.

"They are always investigating rather than legislating. That’s why we should change the system of government so (enacting laws) would be faster," Mrs. Arroyo said in referring to proposals to amend the Constitution and abolish the Senate for a unicameral parliamentary form of government.

Mrs. Arroyo, who attended the 61st birthday celebration of Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye at the Kalayaan grounds of Malacañang, said she had signed the committee report of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman recommending the abolition of the death penalty.

Lagman has been pushing for the repeal of the death penalty law and was one of those grateful for the President’s decision to commute all death sentences.

Asked whether the move to abolish the death penalty would have bipartisan support, she said: "I hope so."

The House of Representatives and the Senate have been at odds over many issues as senators accuse pro-Arroyo congressmen of working for Malacañang.

Senators and congressmen are now blaming each other for the delay in the passage of the proposed P1-trillion budget for 2006, the anti-terrorism bill and other important measures.

Ermita, for his part, expressed confidence the bill would have bipartisan support despite efforts by some quarters to politicize the issue.

"(Our feedback is that) even the Senate is for the abolition of the death penalty," Ermita said.

Ermita said he was hoping the public would consider the President’s reason for making the declaration was to preserve life, even that of hardened criminals.

"They question every move of the President and put political meaning to her decisions. They even say she is trying to win over the sentiments of the bishops," Ermita said.

Ermita also allayed fears that abolition of the death penalty would hamper the government’s fight against terrorism and criminality.

Pro-life groups claimed the death penalty law had not been effective in deterring crimes.

They said efforts to curb terrorism and criminality could be effective even without capital punishment.

But victims of heinous crimes and their families expressed disgust over Mrs. Arroyo’s decision, saying justice had been compromised.

Even the communists claimed Mrs. Arroyo’s decision to commute all death sentences was "a fake."

In a statement, Jose Ma. Sison, self exiled founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said the President could not nullify the death penalty law by herself.

"Gloria Arroyo should stop faking that she can nullify the death penalty law all by herself and make a wholesome commutation of the death sentences of more than 1,000 inmates who have been convicted of murder and other heinous common crimes," Sison said.

If the President is really that compassionate, Sison said, she should have first addressed the murders of 556 activists, labor leaders and journalists committed under her administration.

Sison said the death penalty law remains on the books and is implemented on a case-to-case basis. — With Aurea Calica, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Michael Punongbayan, Jaime Laude



----By Paolo Romero
The Philippine Star 04/20/2006
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200604200403.htm

[jiro]

my opinion...
Consipiracy theory

this death penalty just came out of nowhere.
then, it just hit me.. after seing today's headline sa sunstar.
some say gloria is trying to please the pope before her meeting. hmmm... dont think so..

probably trying to save these americans from death penalty

trying to relax the tension between US and RP on this subic rape case... this is an assurance they will not be sentence to death.
this makes sense... what'cha' think?

[baron]

I've read the news. I don't think there's any conspiracy behind the passage of the law.

The president has been an advocate of life even since she was a senator. After the commutation of the death convicts, she urged the Congress to review whether or not we will finally abolish the death penalty law. As much as it does not help in deterring heinous crimes to happen, the respect and high value for life in line with our Christian values prep up for the legislators to pass the law.

Anyway, the law repealing the death penalty is stricter now, since those who will be penalized with reclusion perpetua or those convicts whose penalty decreased to reclusion perpetua will never be eligible for parole. As such, rest assured that the victims and their respective families will be given justice they deserve.

[jiro]

thenk you............. .

[peg]

MAYBE.. to acquit erap, para walay gubot... or ganahan lang jud nya e-abolish... or naa pay lain nga reason..

i dunno.

[jiro]

>>MAYBE.. to acquit erap
hmm.. death penalty sad ba ang naghulat ni erap kung guilty?
hehehe...

i still think its connected to the americans.. *winks*

balimbing kasing tong GMA lalo na sa foriegners... and us... para ma change ang image niya..

oh well.. basta ganda ng economy ok lang.

[peg]

>>MAYBE.. to acquit erap
hmm.. death penalty sad ba ang naghulat ni erap kung guilty?
hehehe...

ahaha.. ambot anang erap .. maympa mamugas na lang ko. napa koi agi.

[wanderlust]

>>MAYBE.. to acquit erap
hmm.. death penalty sad ba ang naghulat ni erap kung guilty?
hehehe...

i still think its connected to the americans.. *winks*

balimbing kasing tong GMA lalo na sa foriegners... and us... para ma change ang image niya..

oh well.. basta ganda ng economy ok lang.

GMA has been against the death penalty ever since she was a senator. Our legislators also crossed party lines in supporting the abolition of this law. So much for those conspiracy theories.

Btw, she was right in her stand that our law enforcement agencies should instead be reinforced so as to ensure that criminals are arrested and prosecuted for their crimes.