Gamboa favors reviving death penalty

October 14, 2019

The officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police ( PNP) supports the revival of death penalty in the country.

“My take could either be personal or organizational but of course my personal take (is) there is really a need to restore'', said Lieutenant General Archie Francisco Gamboa in a press briefing Monday.

Though the PNP is always invited as a resource person on the issue, Gamboa said the discretion on the revival of the law “still lies” within the legislative branch.

“I think the discretion to decide whether it should be restored or not lies within the legislative branch of government which we will respect,” he said.

“They are presumed to know more than us,” he added.

Gamboa said what they can probably do is just give inputs but ultimately the lawmakers will be the ones to decide whether it should be restored.

“And we respect that,” he said.

During his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July, President Rodrigo Duterte asked members of the Congress to prioritize the passage of the law re-imposing death penalty on drug-related and heinous cases, including plunder.

Some senators, mostly pro-administration, who won in the last election agreed to revive the law.

For the 18th Congress, four senators have filed their respective bills seeking the revival of the death penalty for a slew of crimes while at least 15 bills restoring death penalty for heinous crimes were filed at the House of Representatives. 

The Philippines scrapped the death penalty in 2006. Ella Dionisio/DMS