July 27, 2016
Death penalty restoration expected within 1 year
The restoration of the death penalty and the lowering of the age of criminal liability from 14 to nine years old may take effect in a year’s time in order to sustain the success-bound anti-criminality program of the Duterte administration.
Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez said that the House supermajority should be expected to act on the two legislative proposals, and added that it will take Congress only a year’s time to pass them.
Alvarez said Senate’s cooperation is vital and urgent in order for Congress to pass the bills at the soonest possible time.
There is no constitutional issue that can stop the restoration of the death penalty for heinous crimes, the Davao del Norte lawmaker stressed.
He said that since the 1987 Constitution provides for the imposition of the death sentence for heinous crimes, all that Congress has to do is to define and classify what crimes the capital punishment may be applied to.
Alvarez said defects in the current Juvenile Justice Law will be addressed in order to further strengthen the fight against criminality in the country.
According to him, foremost in the provisions of the law is the determination of the age of criminal liability and discernment that is currently set at 15 years old.
Under the PDP-Laban proposal, criminal liability will be set at nine years old.
Alvarez explained that the proposed age is two years higher than those provided under criminal laws of Singapore and many states in the United States.
http://www.mb.com.ph/death-penalty-r...within-1-year/
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