INTRODUCTION:

President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday, July 9, met with his allies in Congress in Davao City and asked
them to revive the death penalty.
Among the lawmakers present were senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Sonny Angara, Masbate 3rd
District Representative Scott Davies Lanete, and Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC)
Representative Sherwin Tugna.
“It was a casual gathering with some officials so we discussed many things. He also showed us Davao’s
emergency center including their crime and traffic management system,” Angara told Rappler.
In the meeting that ended in the wee hours of Sunday, July 10, Angara said the President asked them to
pass the proposed measure reimposing the death penalty. (READ: Duterte: Death penalty is retribution)
“The President mentioned he thought we should bring back the death penalty especially for drug
traffickers,” Angara said.
The senator said Duterte mentioned that many public officials are involved in illegal drugs – a form of
“treason” as they should be the ones protecting Filipinos from harm.
Duterte's allies in Congress – presumptive Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and newly-elected Senator Manny
Pacquiao – have already filed bills echoing the President's desire to bring back the death penalty, a move
that will supposedly deter crimes.
Angara, for his part, is non-committal on the controversial measure. For him, he would first listen to all
sides before making a decision.
“I’m open to listen to the proposals which have been put forward,” he said.
Duterte had long told allies in Congress that he prefers death penalty by hanging to lethal injection,
drawing flak from critics and human rights advocates.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups have pointed out that there is no evidence to
prove that the imposition of capital punishment deters crime.
The 1987 Philippine Constitution abolished the death penalty but allowed Congress to provide for it for
compelling reasons involving heinous crimes. It was imposed in 1993, but was again abolished in 2006.

REACTION:
Death penalty should continue in order to eliminate the garbage of our society. Not everybody
deserves to die, but some people definitely do. I support death penalty because of several reasons.
Firstly, I believe that death penalty serves as a deterrent and helps in reducing crime. Secondly, it is true
that death penalty is irreversible, but it is hard to kill a wrongly convicted person due to the several
chances given to the convicted to prove his innocence. Thirdly, death penalty assures safety of the
society by eliminating these criminals.

RECOMMENDATION:
I strongly recommend that we should support what will be our government’s choice about this
death penalty. It is because they won’t just decide if they’ll just simply approve it or not. They will do it
by process and they’ll study first before approving or denying it. They are more knowledgeable than us
upon this case so we just need to support them.

REFERENCE/S: http://www.rappler.com/nation/139237-duterte-meets-lawmakers-death-penalty