Rep. Atienza: Bringing back death penalty won’t deter crime

Instead of reviving the death penalty, the government should ensure the police are chasing and catching criminals to improve the peace and order situation in the country, a lawmaker said Sunday.

In a statement, Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza called death penalty a “poison” and said it will not serve as an effective deterrent to crime.

“The problem is the lack of effective and efficient law enforcement but the solution is not the death penalty – this will not stop the heinous crimes in the country.  Lason sa lipunan ang death penalty. Ayusin natin ang ating law enforcement, ang ating kapulisan, the defective criminal justice system. Certainty of arrest is the best deterrent to crime,” he said.

Atienza’s statement against death penalty follows the announcement of Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas last week that he would soon file a bill reinstating the Death Penalty Law amid rising incidents of heinous crimes.

Treñas has suggested the creation of a multi-sectoral commission to review the possibility of reviving death penalty, which was abolished in 2006 following the signing of Republic Act 9346 by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The law repealed RA 7659.

With the Philippine National Police (PNP) reporting a 17 percent surge in crimes from 2013, the Liberal Party stalwart it is timely for Congress to  consider reviving the death penalty for criminals “who committed crimes that are so heinous and too evil that there is no more hope for redemption and has forfeited their right for any amount of human compassion.”

Some of the crimes which Treñas wants to be considered for the reimposition of the death penalty include rape with murder, multiple murder and certain cases of drug trafficking and drug smuggling.

But Atienza said the government, particularly the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which has supervision over the Philippine National Police (PNP), should focus its resources in reforming the police system and tapping local government units to help in the fight against criminality.

“Our honest, hardworking policemen must be given all the support for effective performance of their duties. But at the same time, those that are already lost in the cycle of corruption among the ranks must be punished. [The DILG] must work doubly hard and Secretary Mar Roxas must assert leadership,” he said. — Xianne Arcangel/BM, GMA News