CHR commissioner: No compelling reason to reimpose death penalty

There is no compelling reason to reintroduce death penalty in the country as President Rodrigo Duterte would want it to be, a Commission on Human Rights official said Wednesday.

Commissioner Karen Dumpit made the remark as the House Committee on Justice resumed its deliberations on pending death penalty bills at the chamber, just over a week after Duterte urged Congress to work on the revival of capital punishment during his 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA).

During the hearing, Dumpit noted Article III, Section 19 of the 1987 Constitution, which states death penalty should not be imposed as a punishment "unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, the Congress hereafter provides for it."

"The Constitution says for compelling reasons, and it is our position that there is no compelling reason to reintroduce the death penalty," she said.

According to Dumpit, the CHR equates heinous crimes as stated in the said provision in the Constitution to "most serious of crimes."

"In the most serious of crimes in international law, if you will have a listing of that, drugs is not found on the list. So we believe there is no compelling reason to impose the death penalty," she said.

Dumpit also stressed that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Second Optional Protocol to ICCPR, which the Philippines entered into, prevent the reintroduction of death penalty in the country.

"If we go ahead and reimpose death penalty, we will be found to be in serious breach of international law," she said.

"It is a state obligation to be able to comply with the human rights treaties that we have acceded to or we have ratified," she added.

Dumpit also pointed out the possible repercussions that the Philippines might face if Congress decides to revive death penalty, particularly on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) currently on death row in other countries.

"If death penalty is reinstated, the ability of the Department of Foreign Affairs to negotiate in behalf of our OFWs will be undermined," she said.

"Moreover, our country will be considered as hypocritical if we will impose death penalty and at the same time, seek the lives of our OFWs who are in death row abroad," he added.

Despite the position taken by Dumpit, House panel chair Vicente Veloso III said Congress who will eventually decide if there is a compelling reason to reimpose death penalty.

"It is for Congress to appreciate these compelling reasons and for the President to veto or approve whatever Congress will pass," he said.

In calling for the return of capital punishment, Duterte said during his 5th SONA that the death penalty bill "will help us deter criminality and save our children posed by the illegal and dangerous drugs."

In the 17th Congress, House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill 4727, which seeks to reimpose capital punishment on seven drug-related offenses.

The said bill, however, has not made significant progress in the Senate. —LBG,GMA News