Capital Punishment

By: Mia Adlawan

In January 2014, former President Benigno Aquino III said the proposal to revive the death penalty law
needs further study but it was more important to fix the country’s justice system first in a speech to the
media at the sidelines of The Outstanding Filipino awarding ceremonies.

Fast forward to the next administration, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed in his second State of the
Nation Address (SONA) for the Congress to pass the death penalty of drug-related offenses, insisting
that in the Philippines a criminal who took one’s life should pay for the offense with his own life.

Two administrations have passed and I know where I stand. I am for this capital punishment.

In the past, criminals that were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of heinous crimes were
sentenced to death by electric chair. And I feel that if this measure were once again available in our
judicial system then perhaps criminals would have something to fear.

Death penalty is not only a form of deterrent but an entity of horror as well.

Although, this mind is against the Church they really do not have a say in such decision – if revived, that
is why the Church and the State are separated. The religious side of this coin are merely speculators and
observers, because what the Church can only do is to make people adhere to their Catholic teachings
and assert that such penalty is an inhumane and ineffective punishment.

Furthermore, organizations like Amnesty International strongly campaign against death penalty. If to
end a criminal’s life via lethal injection or through any other means, it would cost a fortune. But entirely
different from a prisoner sentenced to reclusion perpetua or life sentence.

The government roughly spends 64 thousand pesos every year per prisoner. That means it is seven
times more expensive to keep a person in jail than to keep a kid in school.

Of course, nobody is sentenced with death penalty unless proven. This is where the justice system kicks
in – where former President Aquino’s stand takes place. But if we assume that our justice system is
ready and effective, what is the delay of everything?

But the irony that takes place in this circumstance is that fear wallows drug offenses rather than heinous
crimes, such as rape, murder and treason.

Perhaps, the administration should recalibrate their candidates for death penalty.

But then again, the underlying ground for capital punishment is the pursuance of justice.

It is more than just a deterrent and beyond the totality of the costs – bleeding hearts like priests and
humans rights group ought to claim that the punishment did not lessen nor eradicated crime when it
was in effect for years.
But the problem was the past presidents who did not have the political will to use and strike fear in the
hearts of criminals.

Death penalty existed to suffice and provide the right extent of justice what the other punishments of
the law could not provide.

This argument has only two sides, either a yes or no – since it is a matter of life and death. There is
nothing in between; no grey areas.

Perhaps, for the mean time that the bill has still not been finalized or reinstituted, it gives an ample
amount of time for everyone if such punishment is parallel to their own.