SC chief says death penalty unconstitutional

Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban made public his opinion that the 12-year-old Death Penalty Law is unconstitutional and called for a thorough review of its legality, GMANews.TV learned Tuesday. "The death penalty law as written is unconstitutional. My view is that Congress is not able to show compelling reasons and that the crimes mentioned there are not, quote, heinous, unquote, or not all of them," Panganiban told GMA News. Aside from heinous crimes, the Constitution would only allow death penalty upon proof of compelling reasons. The chief justice raised provisions in the Constitution stating that Congress was sole body authorized to restore capital punishment. He added that the 1987 Constitution states that death penalty, reimposed in the country under Republic Act 7659, is "abolished." In spite of his perusal of its legality, Panganiban said he is not personally against death penalty. Supreme Court magistrates are still in Baguio City where the high court is holding its summer session until May 2. President Arroyo received flak on Easter Sunday, both from pro-life and pro-death penalty advocates, over her decision to commute the sentences of all death convicts to life imprisonment. The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) earlier raised fears that Mrs. Arroyo was merely trying to woo the support of the influential Catholic Church. However, Palace officials said the President looked into her conscience and did not make political considerations in commuting the death sentences. Mrs. Arroyo was the lone senator who abstained from the Senate vote on the Death Penalty Law. The Philippines reinstated capital punishment in the country on Jan. 1, 1994. Over 1,200 convicts are now languishing in death row. The government has refrained from implementing capital punishment since 2000. The President recently certified as urgent a bill before the House of Representatives on seeking the repeal of the Death Penalty Law. Her move paves the way for Congress to immediately begin deliberations on the measure. Panganiban's pronouncements come in the wake of reports that the high tribunal will issue on Tuesday afternoon its ruling on the legality of Mrs. Arroyo's controversial orders, namely Proclamation 1017 and the calibrated preemptive response (CPR) policy. Proclamation 1017, issued by the President on February 24, placed the country under emergency rule for one week. It spawned warrantless arrests and alleged police abuses like its raid on the offices and printing press of the Daily Tribune and its clamp down on anti-government rallies. The CPR policy, meanwhile, allowed elements of the National Police to violently disperse street protests and similar moves held in places not declared as "Freedom Parks" by Malacañang.-GMANews.TV, with a report from inq7.net