A group of lawmakers in the Philippines pledged to...

A group of lawmakers in the Philippines pledged to move for the speedy enactment of measures to repeal the Death Penalty Law.
Crossing party lines, 28 congressmen led by party-list Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales of Akbayan and Aksyon Demokratiko Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay launched the "Legislators Against Death Penalty," which would take the lead in pushing for the scrapping of capital punishment. Rosales, chairman of the Committee on Civil, Political and Human Rights called on President Arroyo to re-impose the moratorium on executions instead of merely issuing reprieves every time a death convict was scheduled for execution by lethal injection. Rosales said at least 11 House bills and three Senate bills?all seeking the repeal of the Death Penalty Law?were been pending.
"We will work double time to convince more legislators and ensure that these anti-death penalty measures will be enacted into law during this Congress."
Lagman said the death penalty was an "anachronistic punishment in this age of modern and progressive penology, where the underlying philosophy is rehabilitation, not retribution."
"As long as we have a flawed police and criminal justice system, so long will criminals taunt lethal injection as a mere anesthesia to numb society's clamor for vengeance," said Lagman.
Lagman was one of the few legislators who opposed the restoration of capital punishment during the 8th Congress, during which the House voted 123 to 26 with two abstentions, and the Senate, 17 to 4 with one abstention to restore the death penalty.
"As it is said in legal parlance: dura lex sed lex?the law is hard but it is the law. We bow to the collective wisdom or error of the majority. It is, however, axiomatic that Congress does not pass irrepealable laws.
There is always time to temper the harshness of a law, rectify an error or review the wisdom of an enactment. That time has come," said Lagman.