President Rodrigo Duterte has pushed for the reimposition of death penalty, saying that heinous crime increased when it was lifted. In his speech during the Manila Times fifth Business Forum, Duterte insisted that capital punishment deters crime, as proven by the data presented by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) at the Senate on Tuesday.
“Now that there is no death penalty, an increase of 3,000% (people convicted of heinous crime). And they say it’s not a deterrent?” the president said.
Citing the BuCor report, Duterte said the number of people convicted of heinous crimes after the abolition of the death penalty in 2006 rose by 3,280%.
“BuCor director Benjamin delos Santos said there were 189 inmates convicted of heinous crimes before the capital punishment was abolished in 2006,” Duterte said, reading from his notes.
“After death penalty was revoked, this figure rose to 6,200 inmates, an astonishing 3,280% increase of persons convicted of heinous crimes,” he added.
Duterte said with him as president, he is confident that the enforcement of death penalty, if it is revived, will be more effective.
“They said when the death penalty was there, nothing happened. It’s because I was not the president then,” he said.
“Bring it back while I am president, I’ll turn those idiots into a curtain on trees. Hang them,” the president added.
Since the presidential campaign, Duterte has declared support for the return of the death penalty. House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez also expressed his support for the revival of death penalty. Early this week, he sacked deputy speakers, including former president Gloria Arroyo, who were opposed to the measure that seeks the revival of capital punishment.
Duterte: keen to check rising crime
