Following the gruesome rape and murder of a one-year-old baby boy in Makati City Tuesday, lawmakers yesterday vowed to revive the reimposition of the death penalty in the country.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Doy Leachon said they will breathe life into proposals seeking to reinstate capital punishment.
“I will push for the revival of the death penalty,” Barbers, the former chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs in the 17th Congress, said, adding that he has refiled his death penalty measure.
He said the death of the boy should prod the House to pass a measure seeking to impose death penalty against those who commit heinous crimes, including those that are drug-related.
Barbers has filed House Bill 2026 seeking to reimpose death penalty on certain heinous crimes.
“Crimes disturb the order of society. The alarming rise of heinous crime in our country calls for the re-imposition of the capital punishment. The death penalty is said to be the strongest deterrent society has against such crimes. It aims to restore order and adequately punishes criminals. The death penalty also serves as retribution for victims and their families,” he said in filing the bill.
Leachon agreed with Barbers that the death penalty must be revived to deter crimes. “The murder and rape of a one-year-old boy is one of the few and peculiar reasons why such penalty must be revived,” he said.
The former chairman of the House Committee on Justice said he would also file a bill seeking to reimpose capital punishment if he leads the panel anew.
Malacañang said that the boy’s murder only proves that President Duterte is right in relentlessly pursuing a war against illegal drugs, saying it destroys lives and the society.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte will have the case investigated because of suspicions that the murder suspect is a drug user. If proven, this may prompt Duterte to intensify their anti-drug war.
“Siyempre ipapaimbestiga natin at lalong papaigtingin natin siguro ‘pag nalaman natin na kagagawan na naman ‘yan ng mga nasa droga,” he said. (Charissa L. Atienza)
