Pro-death penalty revival solons have gained an ally in Public Attorney's Office (PAO) chief Persida Acosta after she claimed that illegal drug users increased ever since the Philippines stopped imposing capital punishment.
"Ang masasabi ko po, noong nawala ang death penalty, mas marami ang gumamit ng ipinagbabawal na gamot (What I can say is, when death penalty was abolished, the number of illegal drug users went up)," Acosta said during a House Committee on Justice hearing via Zoom Wednesday.
"'Yung mga nagtitinda, 'yung mga trafficker, lalong lumakas po ang loob eh (The drug peddlers and traffickers were emboldened)," the resource person further said.
Interpellating her at that time was Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, who is among the dozen or so congressmen who authored bills calling for the reimposition of death penalty in the 18th Congress.
Barbers, who chairs the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs and is a staunch supporter of President Duterte's anti-drug drive, sought an assessment from Acosta regarding the type of crimes that have become prevalent after death penalty was lifted in 2006 via Republic Act (RA) 9346.
"'Yung pagiging drug addict po 'yan ang root cause ng mga violent crimes, ng mga heinous crimes. Robbery with homicide, kidnapping with homicide, at 'yung mga massacre (Drug abuse is the root cause of violent crimes, of heinous crimes. Robbery with homicide, kidnapping with homicide, and massacres)," Acosta told Barbers.
Duterte, in his State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) last July 27, asked Congress to swiftly pass measures reviving the death penalty for certain crimes under the Dangerous Drug Act of 2002.
While she did not give any real statistics for her claims, the PAO chief nevertheless said they helped rehabilitate nearly one million drug users upon the launching of the Duterte administration's aggressive anti-narcotics campaign.
The Philippine National Police (PNP), which could have substantiated Acosta's remarks, appeared to have either not sent a representative to the virtual hearing, or the representative logged out early.
Acosta sounded conflicted during the hearing as she even expressed pride that she was among the prime movers of death penalty's abolition in the country during the term of then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She recalled that when Arroyo first assumed the presidency, over 1,000 inmates were on death row.
Acosta said she pleaded to Arroyo to halt the executions as she believed that a good chunk of the Death Row convicts were actually innocent. She further told the House panel that the reinstatement of death penalty now "would hurt her."
But when Barbers asked Acosta if she concurred with the opinion that death penalty could serve as a deterrent to heinous crimes, the latter answered: "Ang tingin ko po dyan, ang tingin namin, kung sila ay may karapatang mabuhay nang matagal, paano po yung buhay ng mga bibiktimahin pa nila? (In my view, in our view, if the criminals have the right to live long lives, then what about those whom they will victimize?)"
In any case, Acosta said that due process would be followed.