House members from both sides of the political fence gave emphatic remarks supporting the reimposition of the death penalty during Wednesday's Committee on Justice hearing.

Among these pro-death penalty solons was Minority Leader, Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr., author of House Bill (HB) No. 1588.

In his sponsorship speech before the Justice panel, Abante noted that the return of capital punishment “proceeds from justice, not rehabilitation, in behalf of the State and innocent victims.”

“The death penalty is a right given to the State to correct a heinous wrong, that has been committed, not only against the victim, but against the State and society...a person who commits a heinous crime exhibits a depravity that forfeits his very existence in this society," said Abante, who is also a Baptist bishop.

“I would submit that there is no more chance of rehabilitation of the convict as the State will take his life. I would also submit that they are entitled to human rights. To those who uses this argument, I ask: How about the innocent victims who lost their human right to live and to use and enjoy their God-given gifts and freedom, and to enjoy the blessings of God, of democracy, and of a peaceful and orderly society?” he asked.

The legislator also argued that the reimposition of the death penalty “is the end-result and fair administration of justice.”

Abante's bill was among the dozen or so measures taken up by the Justice panel, which is chaired by Leyte 3rd district Rep. Vicente "Ching" Veloso III. Included in the discussion were HB No.1806 filed Robert Ace Barbers and HB No.4743 filed by ACT-CIS Party-List Reps. Niña Taduran, Eric Go Yap, and Jocelyn Tulfo.

The latter four authors all belong to the Majority Bloc. The death penalty reimposition bills themselves have nuances from each other; some seek to impose the punishment on certain violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002, while others identify so-called heinous crimes that the penalty would be applicable to.

"This bill seeks to impose the death penalty for crimes which defy morals, challenge justice and create chaos in our society. Those who commit heinous crimes as defined in this bill do not deserve mercy and must suffer the consequences of their actions. We must prioritize the welfare of peace-loving people over the right to life of these monsters," Taduran said in her sponsorship speech.

She said ACT-CIS sought to reimpose capital punishment as a way to protect the "oppressed and exploited."

"We have been receiving numerous reports of barbaric acts perpetrated against the most vulnerable in society--children, women, the elderly--those who are incapable of defending themselves. Evil-doers have been acting with impunity, confident that the worse penalty that they could suffer if life imprisonment," she said.

"We believe that the reimposition of the death penalty will deter the commission of heinous crimes. The certainty of death will no doubt create second-thoughts in the minds of potential criminals," Taduran added.

Barbers declared in his own speech: "I am for death penalty whoever the President is."

"I believe this is the only penalty that can bring shivers in the bones of evil-doers, the only deterrent to the commission of heinous crimes, the only thing that even the most hardened criminals fear," underscored the Mindanaoan, who chairs the Committee on Dangerous Drugs.

Barbers also punched holes in the common argument of critics of capital punishment that studies have suggested that death penalty has never been proven to be a deterrent to crimes.

"But these are all based on international studies. We have our own culture which affects and molds our well-being. So the studies of other cultures do not apply to us," he said.