SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez on Sunday said nothing was final about the deletion of plunder on the list of crimes to be punishable by death penalty under a proposed measure restoring capital punishment.
Alvarez, Davao del Norte representative and Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan secretary general, said lawmakers had already spoken during the plenary voting last month.
“Plunder remains on the list of crimes [punishable by death]. The entire membership of the House of Representatives will have the final say on its inclusion or removal,” Alvarez said.
“I voted for its inclusion during the caucus.”
Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said plunder had not been delisted from the list of heinous crimes under House Bill 4727 as embodied in the committee report number 47 or the reimposition of the death penalty.
He said he, Alvarez and other lawmakers had voted for the inclusion of plunder in the bill during a caucus, but was outnumbered by the other lawmakers wanting the deletion of plunder among the crimes punishable by death.
“The Speaker and I, among others, voted to keep plunder in the bill, but a greater majority voted to delete it,” Fariñas said.
“But nothing is final yet. There has been no amendment to the proposed measure as we are still in the process of building a consensus.”
Republic Act 7659 or the Death Penalty Law was abolished in 1986 during the term of President Corazon Aquino.
Capital punishment was restored by President Fidel V. Ramos in 1993 and was suspended in 2006 by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.