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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Tuesday, March 14, 2017
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MANILA – Members of the Senate minority bloc said they will fight “tooth and nail” to make sure the bill re-imposing the death penalty and the bill lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility are not passed.
Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon said on Monday that Liberal Party (LP) senators and its allies will “block” the ultimate passage of these proposals.
“The LP and its allies firmly believe that death penalty was not and will not be an effective deterrent to crime, even for drug-related offenses,” Drilon said.
According to him, the imposition of death penalty, which he described as “cruel” and “inhuman,” discriminates against the poor.
There is also a need to improve the efficiency of judicial institutions to avoid serious miscarriages of justice, said the senator from Iloilo City.
“We risk executing innocent people who do not have the money to hire experienced and competent lawyers. The reality is that, not everyone is afforded the same quality of criminal defense. This leaves the poor most vulnerable to wrongful execution,” he added.
Meanwhile, Drilon said they will also oppose the proposal to lower the age of criminal liability from 15 to 9 years old because “children should be educated, protected, and nourished.”
Placing the child in detention means “we have failed them, we have failed ourselves.”
Aside from Drilon, other senators belonging to the opposition LP are Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, and Leila de Lima.
Allied senators include Risa Hontiveros and Antonio Trillanes IV./PN
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