Pantaleon Alvarez to passed Death Penalty Before Christmas

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said that the House of Representatives plans to reinstate the Death Penalty bill before Christmas break when it reach the final reading on December.

The bill is one of the priority measure of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has often threatened to kill criminals.

“I don’t know with the Senate, I don’t control it, but as far as the House is concerned, we will approve it before the Christmas break,” Alvarez told reporters in Japan during the three day state visit of President Duterte.
He said the House plans to leave it up to the executive to set the method for executing hardened criminals.

“If they want to hang them, shoot them by firing squad, it’s up to them. The criminals would be dead either way,” he said.

He also defended the controversial measure, saying it did not work before because the state did not kill enough criminals when it was in effect.

He noted that critics of the death penalty often insisted that it was not a deterrent to crime.
“Before they speak, they should look at the record first. How many were killed? It had not been a deterrent because they kept on objecting, so it was not implemented,” he told reporters in Tokyo, where he joined Mr. Duterte in his official visit to Japan.

It would have been different had it been implemented properly, he said.

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