THE PHILIPPINES. ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY -- SANTIAGO

“Why not commute all death sentences?” was the suggestion of Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, who urged Philippine’s President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to follow the example of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who signed a decree in 1999 commuting the sentences of 716 prisoners scheduled for execution. Santiago, a crusader against the death penalty, made the call shortly after Malacañang gave a 90-day reprieve to 21 convicts facing execution by lethal injection for rape, murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking.
Santiago's suggestion was countered by a call from Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri to carry out the death penalty as provided by law.
Zubiri criticized the reprieve, saying it emboldened criminals to act with impunity.
"The deterrence value of capital punishment loses its affectivity when the government shrinks from its duty to carry it out," Zubiri said.
"For every criminal granted a reprieve from the gallows, many others are emboldened to commit a crime with impunity," he said. "A society under siege has the supreme right to protect itself. Carrying out the death penalty is an act of self-defense."
Santiago, however, said commutation to a life sentence would achieve the same goal of protecting society. Commutations, he added, were allowed under the Death Penalty Law, and were different from pardons. Santiago said more than 100 countries had stopped executing convicts out of respect for human life. "Does this mean their sense of justice is inferior to ours?" he added.