NGEC 2 ˗ Readings in the Philippine History

Argumentative Essay about Death Penalty in the Philippines

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Death Penalty is not the answer

When someone hear the word “death”, do they feel empty, lost or terrified at the same

time? Or is it the opposite? Would they rejoice or celebrate? We wouldn’t know. Most of

everyone would probably feel the first sentence and only the oppress would feel the second

statement. Death is defined as the action or fact of dying or being killed. In short, it is the end

of a person’s life or an organism. Associated with death is the word “life”. Life is sacred to all

beings especially humans due to our intellect and skills which other organisms don’t have. In

the eyes of God, we are his masterpiece, we are his children which means we need to take care

of one another. But, what is happening right now? Violence and destruction have succumb the

world. Crime rates have been increasing rapidly, wars have overtaken the earth and thus

humanity is slowly disappearing in front of our very own eyes. Situations which were

mentioned above are inevitable in the Philippines, of course. Perhaps, those, were also

happening here. In order to stop this, the government for so long years once again planned up

to way variety of solutions and the most popular and debatable solution is the Death Penalty.

Death penalty in the Philippines has actually jolted off way back during Marcos

Regime. There were recorded criminals which were executed across the country during that

time. It was abolished under former President Corry Aquino’s tenure dated back 1987 because

of its non-˗conformity’s effect; the fact that it doesn’t deter crimes. In 1993, it was reinstated,

amended the process from electric chair to lethal injection and was passed into law, thereafter

was legalized. However, in 2006, former President Gloria Arroyo has again but completely

abolished the capital punishment or the death penalty under Republic Act 9346 “An Act

Prohibiting the Imposition of the Death Penalty.” The punishment was changed to lifetime

imprisonment or Reclusion Perpetua.

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By the definition, death penalty is the sentence of execution for murder and some other

capital crimes like serious crimes, especially murder, which are punishable by death. According

to Amnesty International (2017), a non-governmental organization focused on human rights,

there are 58 countries in the whole world still applying the practice of Death Penalty.

For so long years, I used to favor the death penalty. In my younger ages, I thought

people who committed dreadful crimes deserved to die at the hands of the Government. Every

time I see any heinous crimes in our television, I always shout through a non-verbatim way,

“Patayin na yan, ‘ung biktima nga pinatay niya’ ang buhay niya pa kaya” and some more secret

harsh words. Just my brain cells thought of slicing him open and make him bleed–that sort of

mindset. Yet it was changed. I can’t exactly remember when I switched sides. It may have been

during the time, way back in my Grade 9 years, where I was about to join a certain Values

Education Quiz Bee. We were told to research about the case of the Death Penalty of someone

since one of the scopes of the topic that will come out in the said competition is about life and

death. Then there, I researched and discovered about Dondon Lanuza, where he reached out to

a certain non-profit organization, like the Blas F. Ople Policy Center. I was so saddened when

I read the certain article because he needed to raise millions of money in order to prevent his

own execution in Saudi Arabia. He stated there that he would sleep in his bunk bed at the Saudi

jail and be jolted awake, fearful that the jail guards would be coming to drag him to the plaza

to be beheaded. Just imagine how he crammed, no people to speak on, no relatives to defend,

just to collect millions of money and beg not to end his life.

Philippines’ practice about this also has a long past. Way back in Marcos’ regime, the

death penalty was put into legal where numerous of lives were claimed because of execution,

firing squad, electrocution as some of the processes of the said punishment (Cruz, 2000). Many

people could still remember the public execution of drug lord, Lim Seng during the time of

Marcos, a prime example of using the death penalty as punishment. As stated by Ople (2017),

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“there are crimes that are so vicious and senseless and brutal that one can’t help but feel rage

against the wrongdoers. Child rape. Chop-chop murders. Acts of terror aimed at killing on a

massive scale. There is so much to seek vengeance for.”

So, it’s understandable those who favor the death penalty. Stances are respected. They

just want our society to be safer. They just want the government to deliver the deadly kick to

that tiny elite of criminals that deserve to be quickly dispatched to abyss. And why should the

government pay for the upkeep of these murderers, drug lords, and rapists? To make things

easy, end them. Yet, would it be that easy? What if there will be borders on the other side?

Now, is death penalty really needs to be reimposed to solve these problems? If reimpose, will

it really give optimal solution in the Philippines’ delinquent such as crimes and other unlawful

acts?

Conceivably, criminals have done hideous crimes in their life but it doesn’t mean they

don’t have the right to live. Reimposing death penalty here in the Philippines will not end or

decrease the crime rates like probably be happening right now in other country. Death Penalty

should not be completely reimposed in our society owing to the fact that it will not decrease

crime rates, costs a lot of money and puts innocent lives at risk.

The first and foremost reason why some people wanted to approve death penalty is to

decrease the crime rates of their country. If it is reimplemented by the government, the society

would feel afraid to commit a crime thus stopping them from doing malicious acts that can

harm or end someone’s life. However, there is no evidence that posits the use of the death

penalty as being causal to a reduction in crime. According to DPIC or the Death Penalty

Information Center, a 2007 survey after the Death Penalty was abolished in the Philippines in

2006, the most leading criminologists in the country from found that the overwhelming

majority did not believe that the death penalty is a proven deterrent to homicide. Eighty-eight

percent of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent

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to homicide, according to a new study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and

Criminology. Furthermore, in the article of Punongbayan & Mandrilla (2017), Leni Robredo,

currently the Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines stated that she has been steadfast

on her opposition of death penalty, stating that there has been no sufficient evidence nor study

that presents death penalty as effective in deterring crimes. She has been also quoted as citing

that the country is a signatory to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant

on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits the nation from reinstating death penalty.

A study from Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (2017) also revealed data

from the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) which showed that the crime rate was

decreasing sharply before the death penalty was restored in 1992. The rate of decrease appears

to have slowed down in the years when the death penalty was enforced. The rate of intentional

homicide as well, as defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as “unlawful

death purposefully inflicted on a person by another person”, similarly decreased from 1998

through 2012, regardless of whether the death penalty was in force. It decreased most sharply

starting in 2006, the same year the death penalty was last abolished.

In an international scale, In the US, for example, the death penalty alone could not

explain the great decline in homicide rates observed in the 1990s. This is despite the fact that

these 3 states used the death penalty very differently: Whereas Texas executed 447 people over

that period, California executed just 13 people, and New York executed no one (Rappler,

2017).

Second reason why death penalty must not be reimposed is that it costs a lot of money.

The cost of the death penalty as opposed to a life sentence without bail is exponential. Due to

the extra measures taken in judicial proceedings, lawyer fees, extended trials, and expert

witnesses, costs end up being higher. According to Manila Times (2017), under former

President Fidel Ramos’ times, there were also a lot of cases on capital punishment. Capital

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punishment that time is in the process of lethal injection. In fact, a single lethal injection would

cost 875,000 pesos. Obviously, one case would be at approximately 2.5 million pesos if

processed through death penalty. These include procedure on laws, trails and fees to lawyers.

On a wider scale, according to the Oregonian, in 1995 the trials for three Washington County

murder cases cost more than $1.5 million. One was sentenced to death. In 2000 a fiscal impact

summary from the Oregon Department of Administrative Services stated that the Oregon

Judicial Department would save $2.3 million annually if the death penalty were eliminated. It

is estimated that total prosecution and defense costs to the state and counties equal $9 million

per year. It is a total waste of effort, time and money to kill someone. This money should have

been donated or spend to someone who deserves it rather than to a criminal whom can be

punished by a life sentence.

And the last reason is, it puts innocent people’s lives at risk. The death penalty alone

imposes an irrevocable sentence. Once an inmate is executed, nothing can be done to make

amends if a mistake has been made. According to Commission On Human Rights (CHR) Of

The Philippines (2007), there is considerable evidence that many mistakes have been made in

sentencing people to death. Since 1973, at least 121 people have been released from death row

after evidence of their innocence emerged. During the same period of time, over 982 people

have been executed. Thus, for every eight people executed, we have found one person on death

row who never should have been convicted. These statistics represent an intolerable risk of

executing the innocent.

One example here in the Philippines is an engineer and a father of three, Carlo

Raymundo, a resident of Taytay, Rizal was executed in 2002 dated back where death penalty

is still legal, for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three daughters. Following his execution,

further evidence revealed that Raymundo did not set the fire that caused their deaths. He found

not guilty but it was already too late.

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Another case, a year into his term, former President Estrada is squirming on an

unexpected hot seat over the issue. Unexpected, because the once-punchy president has always

been cheered for his crusade against the kidnappers and murderers who plagued Filipino

society a few years back. On June 25, 1994, Estrada has issued a series of last-minute reprieves,

gaining an unwelcome reputation for wavering. During Estrada’s term, only minutes after

telling reporters that Eduardo Agbayani, initially charged with raping two of his daughters in

Bulacan province, would be executed that day and the president bowed to an appeal from

Bishop Teodoro Bacani. The president phoned from home to the execution chamber, but got a

busy signal, then a fax tone. By the time an aide reached the presidential office hotline,

Agbayani was dead. Yet totally, Agbayani was found not guilty. There were no similar

problems on July 8 that year, when three men were executed for robbing a jeepney, and killing

an off-duty policeman who was on board. The trio claimed innocence at the end (Gluckman,

n.d). In a simple analogy, if an automobile manufacturer operated with similar failure rates, it

would be run out of business. Imagine if someone was already dead and it turns out later that

he/she is completely innocent, there will be no turning point. An innocent life has already taken

and the victim’s family would suffer upon hearing their love one has executed and was

completely innocent.

Right now, president Rodrigo Duterte is planning to return back the said capital

punishment. In fact, it was already initiated last 2017. It wasn’t just approved, but to assure you

people, the paper is still airborne, hiding. Everyone’s just waiting for that ‘paper’ to be

approved. Recently, the House of Representatives has once again held a discussion on

viewpoints regarding the reinstating of death penalty in our country. Perhaps, the person who

has the power is still planning to restore it. Who knows? But is it right and just?

We have all the right reason to live. May it be a criminal, a priest or just an ordinary

person. Criminals especially murderers have been tortured and killed multiple times. If they

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have committed a hideous crime, it doesn't mean that we have to hurt them or kill them also.

According to Mahatma Gandhi, an eye for an eye turns the world blind. We are all familiar

with this quotation, “if someone hits me then I would hit them too”. If we use this system all

the time then there won’t be a need for us to implement laws for we are already following our

own conscience, it doesn't matter if we are right or wrong. In this world, nobody is perfect

which means we all have our own flaws and mistakes. The best way to make up to the people

whom we have hurt or may have hurt us, we need first to accept our faults and forgive our own

selves. If we are still being a hard headed person then we wouldn't have our own inner peace

again. We should also forgive others, do not hold any grudges and let God decides the

punishment for them. Death penalty is not a solution to end crimes and for the other problems

of our society. Death Penalty should not be completely implemented in our society owing to

the fact that it doesn’t decrease crime rates, costs a lot of money and puts innocent lives at risk.

#DeathPenaltyIsNotTheAnswer.

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