Roderica A.

Regoris – Section/7:30-9;00am/ October 10, 2019

Reinstating capital punishment will not make any change in climbing numbers of crimes
related on drugs that caused unmerciful killings and heinous crimes in the Philippines. The
government’s criminal justice system only besets corruption, incompetence, inefficacy, lack of judges
and prosecutors, huge case backlogs. It also serves who can pay more and neglect people who cannot
even pay any cents. The convicted people on lowest- and lower-income classes are deprived by
persons who are powerful enough to manipulate justice where innocents to be killed while powerful
guilty men are to be freed.

Living a normal life means abiding by the laws, rules and regulations, and at the same time
enjoying the rights and protection afforded to him or her as citizen of our democratic country, by the
Constitution. Accordingly, a person who goes beyond the bounds of the law is expected to face the
consequences of his or her action and go through the process of the criminal justice system (Porferio
C. Madelo Jr). The criminal justice system is the set of agencies and processes established by
governments to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate laws. There is no single
criminal justice system in the United States but rather many similar, individual systems. How the
criminal justice system works in each area depends on the jurisdiction that is in charge: city, county,
state, federal or tribal government or military installation (National Center for Victims of Crime,
2008). Implementing death penalty will become an another platform of backlogs and corruption.
According to Inquirer.net consequently, that the high court’s backlog has ballooned to an
unmanageable 7,000 or so unresolved cases, to great damage and serious prejudice to the people. If
death penalty will be imposed it will add up to the cases that remains unsolved because cases will
undergo first from an intensive investigation to verify the alleged crime to a convicted person before
execution.

The jury is also a factor in determining penalty where corruption can be incorporated. Well
in fact, according to Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen at a judicial independence
forum July 17, 2018 at the University of the Philippines (U.P), corruption weakens judicial
independence far more than political interference where the efforts from the legal profession to fight
corruption within the judiciary is wanting, saying there is a lack of a systematic effort to get rid of It
that made to say that there are justices that can be bribed. Then afterwards, they do not want to be
held responsible for the death of someone, innocent or guilty.

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 Aside from that, subsequently PNP chief, Gen Oscar Albayalde, in his speech during the
118th Police Service Anniversary in Camp Crame on Friday, Crime has remained on a downtrend.
He said that from July 1, 2016 to July 31, 2019, the PNP has conducted a total of 163,622 anti-illegal
drugs operations resulting in the arrest of more than 256,000 drug personalities, the death of more
than 6,000 in police operations, and the surrender of more than 1,200,000 under Oplan Tokhang.
Based on statements it did not mention about the number of convicted people who died during
operations because they were mostly concerned about the criminals in numbers(quantity) or we can
say that they were opt to the quantity rather than the quality. They cannot unfold the protectors of
such activities who works internally. Additionally, the survey of 1,200 Filipinos by Social Weather
Stations (SWS) conducted in late June also showed that 50 percent of respondents felt many victims
were falsely identified by their enemies as drug users and pushers, and were then killed by police or
shadowy vigilantes (Petty, 2017). With that people mostly believed that the government sacrifices
the lives of the people accused to say that they performed well with their program against illegal
drugs. Even if it is falsely accused they buried it and accounted as addition to their achievements. The
voices of the victims are some of reasons that to capture drug pushers and users as much as they can
will not be enough. They always had suspicions but they were being falsely linked to lowest- and
lower-income classes who had not given the chance to talk for themselves and be understood by
persons in power so, it will not cause any change to the crimes. Instead, it will only raise issues about
human rights.

The government claims that the war on drugs by the administration is winning. But then they
imposed or push the capital punishment to deter the said crimes on drugs. It would not be easy or
possible for a severe penalties such the death penalty to deter drug-related and heinous crimes when
in first place corruption and weak judiciary are currently an undying issues remained unsolved. So,
even if death penalty will be amended it will not solve the root issues of the government. But on the
other hand, the death penalty is unjust and morally wrong. When someone murders someone else, the
correct punishment is not to murder him or her, but to try and help them. People don’t steal from the
thieves, or rape the rapists. It would appear to condone the crime by repeating it which degrades our
justice system.

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References
Caliwan, C. L. (2019, August 12). Philippine News Agency. Retrieved from
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1077575

Leonen urges more scrunity of corruption in judiciary. (2018, July 17). Retrieved from Rappler:
https://www.rappler.com/nation/207544-leonen-urges-more-scrutiny-corruption-judiciary-
philppines

National Center for Victims of Crime. (2008). Retrieved from https://victimsofcrime.org/help-for-crime-

victims/get-help-bulletins-for-crime-victims/the-criminal-justice-system

Petty, M. (2017, September 27). Half of Filipinos don't believe police accounts of drugs war deaths: poll.
Retrieved from Thomson Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-drugs/half-of-
filipinos-dont-believe-police-accounts-of-drugs-war-deaths-poll-idUSKCN1C211M

Porferio C. Madelo Jr, e. a. (n.d.). CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. In e. a. Porferio C. Madelo Jr. Rex Bookstore
Publishing.

Tobias, J. H. (2018, July 23). Retrieved from Inquirer.net: https://opinion.inquirer.net/114801/address-

supreme-courts-case-backlog

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