The gun itself is neither evil nor good.
Much like most inanimate objects, the loaded gun is good orevil depending on its use by the one handling it.
This is the simplest understanding I have of the current issue on the revival of the death penalty as a solution to crime and as an aid to the war on drugs.
With the approval of the President, lawmakers are pushing for the return of the death penalty purportedly to “ensure order in the society and respect for the law.”
In an online hearing on Aug. 5, ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Niña Taduran said that the certainty of death could make criminals think their actions twice.
People who are pro-death penalty believe that reviving this law will not necessarily mean that every criminal will be killed because there is a judicial process before imposing death on a certain suspect.
Most say that death penalty itself is not evil, explaining that whoever gets them does deserve their punishment.
Some, like Sen. Manny Pacquiao, point out that in the Bible, death penalty was imposed and that execution then was way worse than that of the proposed lethal injection in today’s time.
These points of views are too ideal and could not possibly be executed in the actual Philippine context.
An article from Inquirer published in 2017 points out that worsening crime in the country does not have any connection with the death penalty.
Also, the numbers show how the system and current practices of recording crimes are severely flawed as multiple discrepancies in numbers and reports could be traced.
The fight against drugs could be viewed in the same way dubious reason for the return of capital punishment. To associating multiple killings and other crimes to drug use does not hold water.
From these observations, I could not help but think about how our officials have been able to propose a solution as heavy as taking someone’s life on something they could not even
record properly.
If the basic recording of crimes in the current system cannot even be executed well, how could the people possibly trust that the current justice system could ensure that the death penalty wouldn’t be imposed on the wrong persony?
Moreover, multiple studies and research prove that drug use and crime rates are higher in places with higher economic inequality.
Facts like this should be enough to make one see that pushing death penalty in a country where poverty is evident is a call to establish a law targeting the poor.
With these data, death penalty as the proposed solution to lessen the crime rate and drug dealing doesn’t hold water and is in fact a stupid move.
Now, to propose this kind of solution amidst the pandemic is obviously dumber.
It is still glaringly clear that we are not winning this war against the Covid-19 virus as thousands continue to be added to the number of infected cases per day.
It’s appalling to see House of Representatives members exerting effort to pass the death penalty bill rather than direct the efforts for actions against the pandemic.
More so, officials who push for the bill and who cite the Bible as an argument on their side.
We should take note that the Bible does not have verses stating that God imposed death penalty as a commandment or an encouragement to help fight evil.
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is primitive biblical justice that was rejected by Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
Why go back to the Old Testament?
Who are we to deny a person a chance to change and realize his or her mistakes?
We do not and never will hold the power to decide whether to take someone’s existence, whatever reason we may have.
Life imprisonment should enough.
In a pandemic, when hundreds of lives are being taken away in an instant, reviving death penalty is out of the question.
The cons obviously outweigh the pros, so why are we still calling for the bill to be passed?
Allowing the government and the current state of justice system to restore the death penalty in a country deep in poverty is just the same as offering a loaded gun to a thief holding you hostage in your own home.
It’s insane and plain stupid.
