Although it is against his principles to restore the death penalty, Senator Richard J. Gordon said he would conduct hearings ‘’fairly’’ on 10 death penalty bills.
The senators are scheduled to meet in caucus on Monday on the membership of Senator Ronald dela Rosa to Gordon’s Senate justice and human rights committee. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian relinquished his committee membership during last Wednesday’s plenary session, so Dela Rosa could participate in the debate, or sponsor the death penalty bill.
The debate last week was on the inclusion of Dela Rosa to the Gordon committee, and his possible chairmanship of a Senate justice sub-committee.
Gordon had sat on these bills but he appears to have been moved by pressures to conduct a hearing.
President Duterte, in his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 27, said he wanted Congress to pass a bill imposing lethal injection on high-profile personalities involved in the illegal drug trade.
Seven death penalty bills were authored by six senators. Boxing icon Senator Emmanuel D. Pacquaio authored three bills.
Gordon commented that the whole world is against the death penalty and asked aloud if the proposed Senate deliberations on the bills are timely.
He restated a biblical commandment —‘’Thou Shalt not Kill’’ — and said that life imprisonment should be adopted instead as penalty for heinous crimes.
Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, said the death penalty bills are not anti-poor because drug lords are moneyed.
”You should stand on your bayag (balls),’’ Dela Rosa said of his insistence on the passage of his death penalty bill which was the hallmark of his 2016 senatorial election slogan where 17 million Filipinos voted for him.
Dela Rosa, chairman of the Senate public order and illegal drugs committee, said fence-sitters have no place in the coming debate on the death penalty bills.
”Sa usapang ito you have to take a stand di ka pwedeng sa gitna dito, buhay pinag uusapan dito, di pwedneg walang paninindigan dito kailangan may bayag ka ditong tumayo kung gusto mo fight kung ayaw mo umalis, di mo pwedeng sabihing objective, kaplastikan yan. (In this debate, you have to take a stand. You should not be in the middle or be neutral. We are talking about life here. You must have balls to stand up, or leave if you don’t want to fight),” he said.