Re-imposition of death penalty, a return to barbarism - Spark

By Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan
February 28, 2017

QUEZON CITY – With the expected approbation of House Bill 4727 in the lower chamber of Congress this week, SPARK-Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan commands the youth to rise up against the re-imposition of death penalty in the Philippines.

According to the group, rationalising the current administration’s show of terror will cause the country to capsize very low, as they maintain that the absolute measure is not preventive of future crimes, and will only inflict injustices to those who may be innocent and who are socially marginalized.

House Bill 4727 or “An act imposing the death penalty on certain heinous crimes, repealing for the purpose Republic Act No. 93446, entitled ‘An act prohibiting the imposition of death penalty in the Philippines,’ and amending Act. No. 3815, as amended, otherwise known as the ‘Revised Penalty Code and other special penal laws” is expected to pass in the House of Representatives this Tuesday, February 28, as predicted by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

In an interview on CNN Philippines, Alvarez said, “Tomorrow or Wednesday…Mangyayari na po.”

The group views the measure as repulsive and characteristic of a corrupted and insecure regime whose depressing morality is still nurtured with feudal if not barbaric instincts. Henceforth, reminding the public that the Philippines is a signatory to international treaties proscribing death penalty.

They declared that, “This administration have founded justice on retaliation instead of law and reason. The promised constructive changes were supplanted with the pursuit of an increasingly fascist tendency of those elected on bureaucratic seats.”

The group vehemently insisted that "for as long as we live under a political system wherein an elite minority reigns over a destitute majority and a blindfolded and impartial Lady Justice is all too familiar with the scent of currency, then there could be no guarantee that justice will truly prevail.

Furthermore, SPARK asserted that Congress should as an alternative, focus its attention on earlier interventions in the life of a citizen before he/she commits a crime.