Senate asserts it has different priorities
SENATORS meeting with Malacañang officials in the Presidential-Legislative Liaison Office last Tuesday listed ten priority bills which will be tackled by the chamber when it resumes sessions on May 2 after the Holy Week recess.
Surprisingly, the Senate list did not include the death penalty bill, long pushed by the Duterte administration and only recently causing a major revamp in the House of Representatives. In that chamber of Congress, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez made good on his warning that all congressmen occupying key House positions would be removed if they voted no to the bill.
The biggest casualty in the House was former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was removed from her position as deputy speaker. Several committee chairmen were similarly removed, so insistent was Speaker Alvarez that the party decision be followed.
In marked contrast to this sweeping action in the House, the Senate has declined to include the death penalty bill among its priority bills. Four of these are already in an advanced stage in the legislative process – a National Transport Act, a Utilization of the Coco Levy Act, an Occupational Safety and Health Hazards Compliance Act, and a National Mental Health Act.
The six other priority measures call for a unified national ID system, condonation of arrears in land amortization payments, a revised pay schedule for military and police personnel, pension reform for these same personnel, a tax reform program, and a bill on security of tenure.
Last month, the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights headed by Sen. Richard Gordon halted its consideration of the death penalty bill after it was brought out that it may violate a treaty, duly ratified by the Senate, calling on nations to observe a moratorium on executions with a view to eventually ending capital punishment.
After it approves its ten priority measures, the Senate may well turn its attention to the death penalty bill. But as of now, the Senate, which has long enjoyed a reputation as a fiercely independent body, does not appear to be in any hurry to revive capital punishment, as the House was.
In these last few months, we have seen so much change in national government and in national life. We will know soon enough whether we have changed our national policy on the key issue of the death penalty with the concurrence of the Senate.