Youth groups hit revival of death penalty amid COVID-19 crisis
Various youth groups across the country came together to voice out their opposition against the revival of death penalty in this time of the coronavirus pandemic.
Led by Akbayan Youth, over 100 youth groups and individuals signed a unity statement that stated the reimposition of the death penalty is “another trick to maneuver our attention away from the swell of COVID-19 cases.”
“We need to save more lives not compete with the virus in killing more Filipinos,” they said.
The groups made the statement as the House of Representatives has begun on Wednesday the deliberations on the 12 death penalty bills currently pending before the chamber.
President Duterte urged lawmakers to pass a law reviving the capital punishment for heinous crimes involving illegal drugs in his last month’s State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The youth groups argued the poor would be the target of abuses should the death penalty law be passed.
“The poor are more likely to be subject to the death penalty than their wealthier counterparts due to the lack of resources to defend themselves in court,” they said.
The groups reasoned that death penalty is not a deterrent to crime, citing studies on the cases in the United States, Singapore, and Hong Kong that showed it has no correlation to the rise and fall of crime rates.
“We should be fighting poverty itself--not the poor who are victims of a cruel, unjust social system,” their unity statement read.
The groups also highlighted the country’s flawed justice system where the poor suffer mostly suffer from the “irreversible” effects of death penalty.
They cited a 2004 Supreme Court decision that revealed appeals on death penalty convictions showed that majority of people sentenced to death were mistaken convictions.
“Our vigilance against crimes should also be directed at those in positions of power. We need to put an end to the system of governance that has done nothing but to perpetuate a culture of violence and oppression,” the groups said.
”We should be protecting Filipino families against the greedy who profit off of the pandemic, the powerful who endanger workers’ health and safety, and the paranoid who terrorize ordinary citizens for asking questions,” they added.
Among the youth groups which signed the unity statement were Youth Resist, Youth APL, We the Future PH, Adamson University Student Government, Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking, yFACTph, and Benilde Central Student Government.