Poe says she favors death penalty but only as a last resort

Senator Grace Poe is standing by her opinion that death penalty should be reinstated for heinous crimes but said it should only be the last resort if crime continues to be a nationwide problem.

Speaking to reporters in Cebu after the second PiliPinas presidential debates Sunday night, Poe stressed that she will not immediately call for the restoration of death penalty should she become president.

Rather, she would focus first on "rehabilitating" the justice system so that harsher penalties would be provided for those convicted of heinous crimes, like drug pushing.

"Malinaw para sa akin na kailangan magkaroon muna tayo ng rehabilitasyon ng justice system natin. Hindi naman kaagad-agad. Unang-una, sa Kongreso daraan ‘yan," she said.

But if efforts to curb criminality still fails, Poe said capital punishment should be reinstated.

"Pero sa tingin ko kung hindi pa rin maaawat ang kriminalidad sa ating bayan, at kailangan magkaroon ng mas istriktong paraan, para sa mga heinous crimes, sa mga drug pushers, at para doon sa mga paulit-ulit na gumagawa ng multiple crimes—doon lamang," she said.

Poe was one of the two presidential aspirants who expressed support for death penalty during the "taas kamay" portion of the second leg of the presidential debate held at the University of the Philippines Cebu campus.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who had bragged about killing criminals in his locality even before he ran for president, was the other candidate who backed capital punishment.

While Poe supports the imposition of death penalty for heinous crimes, she said the justice system must first be fixed so the poor will not be at a disadvantage during their trial.

"Pero inuulit ko, aayusin muna natin ang sistema ng hustisya para naman ang mahihirap ay hindi biktima dahil kulang ang kanilang representasyon," she said.

Should she win in the May elections, Poe vowed to increase the budget allocation of the Public Attorney's Office and recruit brilliant lawyers to fill its roster so that poor individuals accused of crimes will have competent representation in court.

Although death penalty was abolished in the 1987 Constitution, it was reinstated through Republic Act 7659, which imposes capital punishment on certain heinous crimes, and RA 8177 provides for lethal injection as the means of carrying out the death penalty.

In 2006, then-President Gloria macapagal Arroyo signed Republic Act 9346 abolishing death penalty in the Philippines by repealing RA 7659.  —Xianne Arcangel/KBK, GMA News