Victims' families might want to get back at perpetrators of heinous crimes

Given the imminent abolition of the death penalty, there's no stoppng some families of victims of heinous crimes from getting hired killers to get back at those who killed or caused serious injury to their kin, an anti-crime advocate said on Friday. “Di namin mapipigil ang mga pamilya na gumastos sila," said Martin Dino, member of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order (MRPO), anti-crime groups whose members include close relatives of victims of heinous crimes. Dino also urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo not to add insult to injury by proclaiming that the abolition of the death penalty was a celebration of the beauty of life. “Pero kaninong life? Iyong life na gumawa ng heinous crime? Pumasok ba sa isip ng mga criminals na ito ang beauty of life?," Dino said. Congress voted overwhelmingly earlier this week to repeal the death penalty law. Both bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives were certified “urgent" by Mrs. Arroyo and she is expected to sign off the abolition of the death penalty soon. Church groups and human rights groups have hailed the decision, with anti-crime groups expressing dismay over the development.-GMANews.TV