LOCAL NEWS! Atienza: Death penalty bill draws line between rich and poor

MAGAZINE
Published February 20,2017
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The House majority has clearly drawn the line between rich and poor offenders, with moneyed defendants likely to receive mere prison terms, if they get convicted at all, while the destitute are bound to draw death sentences, according to House senior deputy minority leader and Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza.
“Death for the poor, lavish lives in prison for the rich. This is apparently what our colleagues in the majority want,” said Buhay party-list Rep. Atienza on Sunday.

Atienza was responding to the House majority’s last-minute decision to abandon mandatory executions, in favor of giving trial judges the leeway to hand out either the lighter sentence of reclusion perpetua, or the heavier punishment of death, to those found guilty of heinous crimes. While ssemingly a concession to death-penalty opposers, the flexibility could in fact work even more against poor litigants, said the lawmaker.

Reclusion perpetua means 30 years in prison, with the convict becoming eligible for possible conditional early release after serving just half of the term, or after 15 to 20 years.

“The death penalty is a travesty. Only indigent citizens inadequately represented at trial will receive it. Wealthy defendants who are able to retain the best criminal defense lawyers will always escape conviction, or get the lesser punishment,” Atienza said.

“If their expensive lawyers are not enough, the rich will simply buy their way out of death sentences, or even out of prison, by bribing corrupt prosecutors and judges,” he said.

“If they can’t buy their way out of incarceration, they will surely buy themselves extravagant lives in detention, as we’ve clearly seen in the cases of convicted big-time drug traffickers having the time of their lives at the New Bilibid Prisons,” Atienza said.

The House is set to advance the voting on the controversial bill reviving the death penalty.

House majority leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Farinas has called for a majority caucus Monday (Feb. 20) to discuss the possible early voting on the bill.

“We will now force a vote on this measure, and we will now close the period for debates,” Fariñas said earlier, though some House leaders told radio reporters Sunday they were reconsidering this decision and could allow for a final session for debates.

Atienza and other colleagues opposed to the death penalty have been trying to stall the passage of the bill by repeatedly questioning the lack of quorum during sessions.

Last week, Fariñas, irked by the questions of quorum - as many colleagues continued to stay from the session - threatened to stop altogether all further deliberations and call for a vote, blaming the death-penalty critics for effectively preventing further discussions on the highly divisive issue.

Though House leaders flaunt a supermajority that they say will support death penalty revival, the Senate is deeply divided on the matter. Senate President Koko Pimentel said Sunday he saw a 10-14 vote "either way" or even a "12-12" split down the middle of the 24-man chamber.

President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to kill many convicts once Congress reinstates the death penalty.

[source] 

Lito Atienza