Death penalty bill ‘dead’ – Drilon
Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon declared yesterday that the controversial bill restoring death penalty in the country is “dead” in the Senate.
Drilon is counting on 13 votes in the 24-member Senate to defeat the Upper House’s pro-death penalty bloc led by boxing icon Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao.
“By my own estimate, there are at least 13 senators who will block the passage of the death penalty bill, including the six-member minority group and seven from the majority bloc,” Drilon said.
“It’s dead and the chances of resurrecting it before we even bring it to a vote are very slim, if not zero, at least in this Congress,” he explained.
Aside from Drilon, the other members of the minority are Senators Francis Pangilinan, Leila De Lima, Benigno Paolo Aquino IV, who are members of the Liberal Party (LP); Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV and Sen. Risa Hontiveros.
Drilon. a former Senate President, said that his fellow LP, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph G. Recto, is also against the controversial measure.
The House of Representatives led by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is pushing for a congressional approval of the measure favored by President Duterte.
“We are ready to lead the fight against the death penalty bill. We believe that a death penalty law was not, and will never be an effective deterrence against crime,” Drilon said.
Drilon maintained that the death penalty measure, once enacted into law, will be detrimental to the poor who would be made victims of this cruel and inhumane punishment because of inefficiencies of the Philippine judicial system.
Drilon, a former Department of Justice (DoJ) secretary, noted that there are only five senators who have openly indicated through media statements, their support for the bill, led by Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Senators Pacquiao, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Cynthia A. Villar.
“It does not appear to have the votes it needed. It is the end of the road for the proposal,” he stressed.