THE clamor to reimpose death penalty in the country was opposed in the House of Representatives with an opposition member saying public support for such is “weak and shallow.”
“Offhand, many Filipinos who appear to favor the revival of capital punishment are merely venting their exasperation over the miserable performance of our criminal justice system,” said Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza.
Atienza, a House senior deputy minority leader, said that death penalty will never be a deterrent to crime.
“Filipinos hunger and thirst for justice, not for blood. And this craving for justice may be satisfied only by profound and comprehensive reforms in law enforcement, prosecution service, the judiciary and our prisons,” Atienza said.
Atienza was responding to the results of an online poll on the House of Representatives’ official website, which showed that 50 percent of participants favored the renewal of the death penalty, while 48 percent rejected the extreme punishment, with two percent undecided.
The ratings imply that the reinstatement of the death penalty “is highly discordant matter that is best deferred by Congress,” Atienza, former three-term city mayor of Manila, said.
The lawmaker blamed “widespread corruption” for the dismal functioning of the justice system that he said has “deeply frustrated and angered” many Filipinos.
“Many citizens still do not report crime victimizations simply because they do not have confidence in our justice system. And the primary reason for this lack of public trust is corruption, which we have to eradicate first,” Atienza said.
“In fact, many homeowners in middle-class subdivisions are extremely wary of opening their doors to Oplan Tokhang precisely because they’re scared corrupt officers might put in false drug evidence,” he said.
Camp Crame has acknowledged that double-dealing officers have been reselling back into the market some of the illegal drugs seized in the course of police operations.
London-based Amnesty International and New York-based Human Rights Watch have both repeatedly warned that the Philippine police still abound with unlawful methods and corrupt practices, including arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, intimidation and the use of planted evidence.