[Marxism] Death Penalty Abolished in the Philippines

["Jeffrey Thomas Piercy, El Pato Comunista" <mqduck@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/06/25/news/arroyo.kills.death.law.html

Sunday, June 25, 2006
Arroyo kills death law

With a stroke of her pen, President Arroyo abolished the death penalty 
yesterday, on the eve of her trip to the Vatican, but vowed she will not 
relent in battling terrorists and criminals.

âWe shall continue to devote the increasing weight of our resources to 
the prevention and control of serious crimes, rather than take the lives 
of those who commit them,â she said, as she signed Republic Act 9346 
repealing the death penalty law.

The President signed RA 9346 despite strong opposition by anti-crime 
groups, the kin of victims of heinous crimes and religious 
organizations, who have all threatened to withdraw support from Arroyo 
if she proceeds with the signing.

âWe have taken a strong hand against the threats to the law and to the 
republic, but at the same time we yield to the high moral imperative 
dictated by God to walk away from capital punishment,â she said.

The President signed the measure in MalacaÃang before senators, 
congressmen, European diplomats, religious organizations and 
nongovernment groups, less than an hour after leaving St. Lukeâs Medical 
Center in Quezon City.

She had been confined at the hospital since Thursday night for acute 
infectious diarrhea.

Papal Nuncio Fernando Filono, who witnessed the ceremony in MalacaÃang, 
said the scrapping of the death penalty law is an âimportant stepâ for 
the Philippines in affirming its âculture of life.â

Challenge

In Cebu, archdiocesan media liaison officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay 
welcomed the development, but said that it is high time the vigilantes, 
who have claimed 167 lives since December 2004, also stop their attacks 
and end the âcycle of violence.â

âThe right of people to live should be respected. We should put an end 
to vigilantism,â Dakay said in a phone interview yesterday.

Since Congress instituted capital punishment in 1993, he said heinous 
crimes such as rape and murder have not stopped or lessened.

The President shook hands with the lawmakers and members of the 
diplomatic corps after the signing but did not make a speech.

Not that any statement would matter to people like Thelma Chiong, 
president of the Cebu-based Crusade Against Violence and vice president 
of the Manila-based Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption.

Chiong, the mother of Marijoy and Jacqueline and the private complainant 
against death row convicts Josman Aznar, Rowen Adlawan, Alberto CaÃo, 
Ariel Balansag and Francisco Juan LarraÃaga, as well as against 
life-termers James Anthony and James Andrew Uy, is taking the abolition 
with âquiet resignation.â

âShe (the President) had made up her mind long ago. Nothing we can do 
will change it. It is not fair to us who have suffered injustices, but 
when is it ever fair?â said Chiong, whose daughters were kidnapped, 
raped and then killed in July 1997.

âIâve wonâ

As to the conviction of the seven men the Supreme Court had found guilty 
of raping and killing her two daughters, Chiong said itâs up to God.

âWeâve won as far as the Supreme Court. There is no more doubt about 
their guilt. I fought for my daughters and Iâve won. Let them live in 
jail,â she said.

The law abolishing capital punishment automatically commuted the 
sentences of about 1,200 death row inmates to life imprisonment.

Arroyo said she will tell Pope Benedict XVI of the new law when she 
meets him during her foreign trip this week.

âWhen I meet the Holy Father soon in the Vatican I shall tell him that 
we have acted in the name of life for a world of peace and harmony,â she 
said.

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor, for his part, said Arroyo 
will âboastâ that the Philippines is the only Christian nation to have 
all three laws against death penalty, abortion and divorce.

Arroyoâs move got the support of Senate Minority Leader Aquilino 
Pimentel Jr., who belied claims that lethal injection is painless to 
execute death convicts.

What next?

Pimentel, one of the authors of the law that abolished the death 
penalty, said the execution of death convicts in the US through lethal 
injection is being questioned for being âa cruel and unusual punishment.â

Under RA 9346, the penalties of life imprisonment and reclusion perpetua 
replace the death penalty.

Persons convicted of offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua, or whose 
sentences will be reduced to reclusion perpetua, shall not be eligible 
for parole under Republic Act 4013, or the Indeterminate Sentence Law.

Seven people have been executed between 1999 and 2000 before a 
government moratorium that was prompted mostly by pressure from the 
dominant Roman Catholic Curch, the European Union and human rights groups.

Defensor said they had canceled all the Presidentâs six âshort working 
meetingsâ yesterday to allow her to rest.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters she was âtaking it 
easyâ and âmaking preparationsâ for her departure this morning for 
official visits to Italy, Vatican City and Spain.

She is scheduled to meet separately with Pope Benedict XVI and Italyâs 
President Giorgio Napolitano before traveling on to Spain, where she 
will hold talks with King Juan Carlos I and President Jose Luis Gonzalez 
Zapatero. (Sunnex/AP/AFP/KNR/AIV)

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