Bill faces rough sailing in Senate

The measure reviving death penalty is expected to face rough sailing in the Senate with senators crossing party lines to oppose it.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, who favors the bill, expressed doubts that the Senate can pass the death penalty bill before Congress adjourns sine die in June.

The House of Representatives approved its own version of the controversial bill on third and final reading last Wednesday.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon from the Liberal Party (LP) said several senators will oppose the passage of the bill but he was also quick to say that so many things might happen and no one can predict it.

Aside from Drilon, those who oppose death penalty include minority bloc members Senators Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, Leila de Lima, and Antonio Trillanes IV.

Senators from the majority who openly oppose death penalty include Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senators Francis Escudero, Paulo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, Grace Poe, Nan- cy Binay and Richard Gordon.

The bill seeks to repeal Republic Act 9346 that prohibits the imposition of death penalty in the Philippines.

Under the bill, capital punishment could be carried out either through hanging, firing squad or lethal injection.

Aside from Sotto, those who expressed support for the bill include senators Emmanuel Pacquiao, Panfilo Lacson, Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito Estrada, Sherwin Gatchalian, Alan Peter Cayetano and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III.

Open to the proposal of death penalty are senators Juan Edgardo Angara and Joel Villanueva while senators Loren Legarda, Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Gregorio Honasan have yet to declare their stand.

Earlier, Pimentel predicted that the death penalty in the Senate could go either way.

“It could go either way 14-10 or 10-14, let’s wait and see,” Pimentel said.