PHILIPPINES: ESCUDERO COOL ON ENDORSING RETURN OF DEATH PENALTY

in the Philippines, the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights is not inclined to support a measure that seeks to reimpose capital punishment. Committee chairman Senator Francis Joseph G. Escudero said reimposing the death penalty is "not an answer" to deter crimes. Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri filed Senate Bill 2322 in May following the murder of 10 officials and employees of a bank in Cabuyao town, Laguna province. "I won’t use my position as committee chairman to block the bill. I would just like to know if Mr Zubiri would be willing to sponsor and defend the bill because I would not defend it. In fact, I would vote and interpellate against it," Escudero said.