To emphasize the gravity of the crime committed by police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca, former speaker and Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez suggested that he should suffer a more painful way of death - burn him alive.
Alvarez confirmed to Manila Bulletin Tuesday night that he had indeed declared that he wanted the double murder suspect cremated alive.
A fierce advocate of the death penalty, Alvarez said if he were to decide on Nuezca’s fate, burning, a manner of putting to death a convict during the medieval times, is the correct way of doing it.
“Kung ako tatanungin dapat ang parusa doon cremation, hindi bitay. (If you ask me the punishment should be cremation, not hanging),” the former House leader told reporters during a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Before its abolition, the death penalty was carried out through lethal injection which its proponents considered to be a “more humane” manner of putting a convict to death than the electric chair.
"Tingnan mo yung ginawa niya sa mga tao. Nakakaawa yung nanay o lola, inakap pa yung bata o. Pinoprotektahan. Tapos ganun-ganun na lang, barilin mo pareho. (Look at what he did to the victims. I pity the mother or grandmother, she embraced her son to protect him. But they were both fired upon),” Alvarez said.
Nuezca’’s execution of a 52-year-old Sonya Gregorio and her son, Frank Anthony, 25, in Paniqui, Tarlac last Sunday triggered talks about the reimposition of the death penalty as the highest punishment against persons convicted of heinous crimes.
Despite declaring strong condemnation on crimes such as the one committed by Nuezca, Makabayan lawmakers remained furiously opposed against the restoration of the death penalty.
“We, in Gabriela Women's Party are firm in our stand that the defects of our judicial and legal processes that enable impunity cannot be cured by the re-imposition of the death penalty,”
Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas said
“The killing of Sonya Gregorio and her son Frank stems from the fascist orientation and impunity within the Philippine National Police, which is made worse by President Duterte's shoot-to-kill orders. In fact, Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca faced two cases involving homicide in 2019,” she added.
For his part, Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite said that what the country needs is not a “harsher punishment but the certainty of justice.”
“As it was revealed, Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca faced several cases including 2 homicide cases but he was not dismissed, punished, and disarmed. The situation was further aggravated by the President's several statements encouraging the police force to shoot people even those with the most benign violations,” said Gaite.
Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Representative France Castro stated:
Under the same flawed justice system that allowed Police Staff Sergeant Jonel Nuezca to be free and off the hook despite two homicide cases and other abusive police forces like him, only the poor and powerless would fall victim to the death penalty.”
She stressed: “Restoring death penalty will not solve crime in the country and will definitely not help solve the current health crisis that our government should be prioritizing at this time.”