Removing death penalty in PH was a mistake, Duterte tells media

President Rodrigo Duterte held a press briefing on Saturday, April 29, 2017, before hosting a gala dinner for the Asean Summit leaders. (Photo from the official website of the 30th Asean Summit)

Pushing for the reimposition of the death penalty, President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that the Pangilinan law created lawlessness in the Philippines.

He was referring to the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (Republic Act 9344) which was authored by Sen. Francis Pangilinan.

Speaking at a press conference at the Philippine International Convention Center, he cited other Southeast Asian countries, like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, which have the death penalty.

“It is only the Philippines that has abrogated or ended the death penalty,” he stressed.

He added that he had informed other heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that he was advocating the reimposition of the death penalty.

He pointed out that, during his stint as a member of the House of Representatives, he was among those who objected to the abrogation of the death penalty – and the votes against abrogation won. But he noted that, when he became Davao City mayor again, the imposition of the death penalty was suspended.

Duterte claimed that the act of copying legislation from another country, referring to the Pangilinan law, “produced a generation of criminals” because criminal offenders below 15 years old never spent time in detention.

“It (Pangilinan law) was short-sighted,” he said. “It was a disaster because we have produced a generation of criminals now who were the minors before who went in and out of prison without being lectured on the sense of responsibility or accountability.”

He pointed out that the “disaster” started with Pangilinan, who copied the law from the United States without providing for the remedy after the arrest of a minor, was the case in the US.

The President said that the senator copied the law but “did not copy all because you should have provided the billions needed to place them in correctional just to be lectured on responsibility and their duties.”

“That created the lawlessness – the Pangilinan Law,” he went on.

He cited Myanmar’s State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who said that with right came responsibility.

“If you are given the right to live by God, you have a responsibility to other people’s lives,” he said. “if you have a right, you have a responsibility too. It’s not just a right. You have your human rights but that human right given to you must be used to preserve the human right of others also.” /atm