Most Pinoys still back death penalty

Most Filipinos still support the death penalty although their number dropped significantly in the last eight months under the Duterte administration, the latest Pulse Asia survey showed.

The poll, fielded from March 15 to 20, also showed more than half of Filipinos want the minimum age of criminal liability to stay at 15 years old, contrary to the proposal of administration lawmakers to lower it to nine.

The Pulse Asia poll used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 representative adults and has an error margin of plus or minus

three percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Support for the reimposition of capital punishment fell by 14 points from 81 percent in July 2016 to 67 percent in March 2017.

Most of the respondents who favor the death penalty come from the National Capital Region and Mindanao, both at 74 percent.

It also received the backing of 66 percent of respondents from the Visayas and 61 percent from balance Luzon.

Support for the death penalty was registered at 68 percent for both classes ABC and E, while it was at 66 percent among class D or masa.

One in four Filipinos (25 percent) opposed the death penalty, while the remaining eight percent were unable to say whether or not they support capital punishment.

Support for the death penalty dropped in the rest of Luzon (-21 percentage points) and in Class D (-16 percentage points), Pulse Asia said.

On the other hand, opposition to capital punishment rose by 14 percentage points nationwide, with the highest increase recorded in balance Luzon.

Among those who are pro-capital punishment, the most often cited crime which should be made punishable by death is rape (97 percent), followed by murder (88 percent) and drug pushing (71 percent).

Fewer Filipinos supportive of the death penalty think kidnap-for-ransom (46 percent) and plunder (33 percent) should be covered by such punishment.

However, most respondents from Metro Manila (55 percent), the Visayas (59 percent) and those in Class ABC (57 percent) support the imposition of capital punishment for kidnap-for-ransom and plunder while a bare majority of those in Class ABC (51 percent) are in favor of the death penalty in plunder cases.

Pulse Asia noted that more Visayans now support imposing the death penalty for murder cases than in July 2016 – 91 percent from 75 percent.

As regards kidnap-for-ransom cases, support for capital punishment declined in the rest of Luzon by 13 percentage points but went up in the Visayas by 20 percentage points.

With regard to plunder cases, more Visayans are in favor of having the death penalty compared to July 2016 (40 percent versus 27 percent).

The House of Representatives passed the Death Penalty Bill last March despite strong opposition from various sectors, including religious groups.

From an initial list of 21 crimes that included rape, treason and plunder, the House leadership decided to limit the death penalty to drug-related crimes and offenses.

The same Pulse Asia survey found 55 percent of Filipino adults who think the minimum age of criminal liability in the Philippines should be retained at 15 years old.

This opinion was expressed by “big pluralities to sizeable majorities” across geographic areas and socio-economic classes (45 percent to 63 percent and 48 percent to 58 percent, respectively).

Filipinos in balance Luzon (63 percent) are more in favor of keeping the minimum age of criminal liability at 15 years old than those in Metro Manila (45 percent) and the Visayas (47 percent).

On the other hand, 20 percent of Filipinos favor lowering the minimum age of criminal liability to 12 years old while nine percent say it should be nine years old.

Thirteen percent of survey respondents say the minimum age of criminal liability should be between 16-25 years old, two percent say it should be 10-11 years old and one percent favor having it at 13-14 years old.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro filed House Bill No. 2 or the “Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility Act,” which seeks to lower the minimum age for criminal liability from the current 15 to nine years.

The lawmakers said the measure was meant to deter minors from being used as accomplices, especially in drugrelated cases.

March against death

Meanwhile, pilgrims against the reimposition of the death penalty will march from Cagayan de Oro City to the Senate in Pasay City to drum up public awareness against capital punishment.

The Lakbay-Buhay Laban sa Death Penalty caravan march started their journey from Cagayan de Oro on May 4. They will travel to 13 cities and provinces before reaching Metro Manila. From Cagayan de Oro, they will go to Cebu City, Tacloban City, Borongan City, Catarman, Sorsogon, Legaspi City, Naga City, Gumaca and Lucena City, San Pablo City, Lipa City in Batangas, Imus in Cavite.

They will go to Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City on May 19 and be in CAMANAVA the next day. On May 21, they will proceed to the University of Santo Tomas and stage a protest outside the Senate from May 22 to 24.

“Death penalty is inhuman as it runs contrary to the principle of restorative justice and corrupts the universal value of life; it is unlawful as it violates existing international treaties the Philippines is party to; it is ineffective as deterrent to crime and drug abuse; it is unjust as it is anti-poor,” said Fr. Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of the National Secretariat for Social Action of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

He said that even if Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon gave assurance that 13 senators are likely to vote against the passage of the death penalty bill, they are not discounting the possibility that there are some lawmakers who might change their mind or be persuaded to vote in favor of the bill.

“We are worried because with just one wave of the administration, they could railroad the passage of the law in Congress. We all know that this bill is connected with the government’s war against illegal drugs. This is a pet bill of the government,” he added.

Gariguez said there are also rumors circulating that there is a directive that Congress should pass the death penalty bill before President Duterte’s second State of the Nation Address in July.