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Proposal to raise from the dead the death penalty law is "unthinking, knee-jerk reaction"

Press Statements
  • Office of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
  • 0916-6406737/0918-9120137
  • 21 January 2011

  

          Proposals to raise from the dead the death penalty law because of the recent wave of crimes in the country is an “unthinking, knee-jerk reaction” and does not consider the fact that in the years when capital punishment was in force in the Philippines, it did not deter the commission of heinous crimes according to Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman.

           Lagman is the principal author of RA 9436 or “An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of Death Penalty in the Philippines”.

           He cited a study conducted by the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) which showed that a great majority of those in death row were aware that capital punishment was in force and effect in the country when they committed their crimes.

           Lagman also underscored that there are no studies to show there is a conclusive relationship between death penalty and the increase or decrease of the incidence of crimes. Moreover, current research and studies have not isolated death penalty from other factors that contribute to the increase or decrease in the incidence of crimes.

           According to the Bicol solon the following are the factors that deter commission of crimes: (1) crime prevention programs in coordination with the members of the community; (2) the certainty of arrest when crimes are committed; (3) the certitude of prosecution and the certainty of conviction once warranted by evidence; and (4) a fair and effective criminal justice system.

           “Justice should not elude the victims of heinous crimes and their families. But justice does not reside in the lethal injection chamber and neither is it enhanced by taking away another human life.” Lagman said.

           He also asserted that “the death of a criminal in the hands of the State will diminish rather than uplift the human spirit. Capital punishment bloodies everyone’s hands.”

           Lagman has lost two brothers to violent crimes with the involuntary disappearance of Atty. Hermon Lagman, a labor and human rights lawyer, during the Marcos dictatorship and with the brutal assassination of labor leader Ka Popoy Lagman in 2001 and yet he is staunchly against the death penalty.