Some 17 Representatives who were duly listed and announced by the Committee on Rules as interpellators on the death penalty bill have been rammed down in the wake of the House leadership’s railroading of House Bill No. 4727 seeking the reimposition of capital punishment.

The precipitate closure of the debates and the flawed approval of a substitute version containing wholesale Committee amendments were fast-tracked with inordinate haste last Wednesday night.

Timely objections from Rep. Edcel C. Lagman and Rep. Raul Daza of the authentic minority were voted down by inconclusive viva voce or “ayes” and “nays” votes.

Lagman emphasized that the hallmark of a deliberative assembly like the House of Representatives is the enduring tradition of untrammeled debates to extensively articulate differing views.

“The gagging or muzzling of legislators is anathema to a democratic institution”, Lagman added.

Lagman also said that the substitute bill which has been denominated as committee amendments by no less than the Committee on Justice, is improper and invalid because the said amendments were not approved by the Committee on Justice in a meeting called for that purpose.

In Daza’s point of order, he stressed that the invocation on Section 54 of Rule X of the House Rules to close the debates was improper because this rule pertains to the traditional turno en contra wherein speeches for and against a measure are made. Daza said that interpellations are not considered as speeches because the questions propounded may either be adversarial or friendly.

Whether the death penalty bill will be sent to the gallows or will be sanctified as an act of the House may be seen next week as the train of death accelerates its speed towards an ominous terminal.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN