As President Duterte renewed his call to reinstate the death penalty for drug-related heinous crimes, the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) is likewise pushing for corrupt officials to be put on death row as well.
PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica made the statement days after President Duterte urged Congress to re-impose the capital punishment for drug-related crimes during his fifth State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) last Monday.
In a virtual briefing aired over PTV-4, Belgica said corrupt officials should be hanged because corruption is “as bad as murder, as bad as drugs” since it puts millions of Filipinos in poverty.
“Corruption should be categorized as a heinous crime and should be penalized by death,” he said.
“Ang (gusto namin) noon, by hanging pero okay naman din ang lethal injection," he added.
Duterte has never missed calling on Congress to bring back the death penalty after it was scrapped twice since the creation of the 1987 Constitution.
Congress, however, did not deliver on the President's call.
The 1987 Constitution allowed Congress to bring back capital punishment for heinous crimes.
It was revived during the Ramos administration but was scrapped again under the Arroyo administration.
Under the Duterte administration, the House Majority Bloc excluded plunder, rape, and treason from the list of the crimes punishable with death.
The exclusion is supposed to help them arrive at a compromise after some lawmakers remained hesitant about voting in favor of House Bill No. 4727.
In 2017, President Duterte said that he would like to know the rationale why Congress decided to exclude plunder and rape from the list of crimes punishable by death under the said House bill.
Duterte said that while he did not say he will not kill plunderers or corrupt officials, he said that rape is still one of the most heinous crimes that should merit the heaviest penalty.
Malacañang has said that the reimposition of capital punishment is an important component in keeping a crime-free and drug-free Philippines.