Bato dela Rosa seeks death by lethal injection for plunderers

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has filed a measure seeking to restore the death penalty in the country for the crime of plunder. 

Under Senate Bill No. 1343 filed on September 3, Dela Rosa is proposing to revive Republic Act No. 8177 which designates death by lethal injection as the method of carrying out capital punishment. 

This law was repealed in 2006 by RA No. 9346 which abolished the imposition of the death penalty in the Philippines. 

Dela Rosa, the lead implementer of the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs, cited the recent investigations into the anomalous flood control projects in his explanatory note for the bill, emphasizing that individuals found guilty of plunder should face the capital punishment. 

“When public officials who are duty bound to uphold the integrity and dignity of the government in its disbursement of funds failed to do so, they must be meted out with the highest penalty,” the explanatory note read. 

“[W]hen public officials, those whom the Constitution has identified to be accountable to the people, are the ones responsible for their suffering, it is no longer just a simple mistake. It is not even a simple crime, punishable by a few years in prison, or forgivable upon the payment of a fine. When our people lose their chance at good lives because of the greed of the few, the greedy few, simply, must pay with their lives,” it added. 

To recall, Dela Rosa had also included in his 10 priority legislative measures for the 20th Congress the bill that seeks to restore the death penalty for large-scale drug traffickers. —AOL, GMA Integrated News