Fifteen senators filed a bill to repeal the Death Penalty...

Fifteen senators filed a bill to repeal the Death Penalty Law and replace capital punishment with 30 years of imprisonment without parole as a penalty for heinous crimes.
The move was immediately condemned by anti-crime crusaders as "a brazen ploy to save the neck of former President Estrada."
This was denied by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., the principal author of Senate Bill 2060, which has apparently gained bipartisan support.
Estrada is facing plunder charges which carry the death penalty.
The death penalty has not achieved the principal objective of modern criminal penology which was to deter crime, said the bill's co-authors, who include Senate President Franklin Drilon and Senators Manuel Villar, Edgardo Angara, Blas Ople, Joker Arroyo, Juan Flavier, John Osmena, Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, Tessie Oreta, Vicente Sotto, Luisa Ejercito and Noli de Castro.
The death penalty was re-imposed in 1995 for heinous crimes. The 1987 Constitution had abolished capital punishment.
Pimentel said legal penalties were justified mainly for three reasons: their deterrent effect, their potential to rehabilitate offenders, and as an act of retributive justice for the benefit of society.
He argued a criminal who is to be executed can no longer be reformed.
"Neither may death be justified in a modern civilized state as an act of retributive justice," Pimentel said.
He said that with the endorsement of the senators, the bill would pass the Senate before the long recess in June.
In a statement, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption said: "We believe that these senators were motivated by no other reason than to accommodate Mr. Estrada who is facing charges of plunder, a crime punishable by death."
VACC chair Dante Jimenez said the group's membership, which is made up of victims and survivors of heinous crimes was "outraged" by the resolution.
"We have thousands of crime victims still crying for justice. If the death penalty is abolished, it would be the saddest day for all victims of heinous crimes in the country," said Jimenez.