And I Scream No to Death Penalty!

If you feel you deserve a second chance, then everybody else does...
The clamour for change and for a better Philippines took one man to run for
presidency. He had no intentions at first, but as the history unfolded, President
Noynoy Aquino did, and now holds the highest position of the land.
As he said, he would, by all means, implement measures to free the country from
corruption. One of the measures being considered (as of press time, not by
President Noynoy but a number of Juan dela Cruzes) is the re-implementation of
death penalty, saying that all corrupt officials should be put to death, firing squad
perhaps, so we can finally break free from the chains of intertwined problems of
poverty, prostitution, degraded quality of education, unemployment, and blah.. blah..
blah..
In a random text survey and interview I made, 60% said that they are in favour of
death penalty-“if that (death penalty) would make people scared to commit crimes”
then, “it must be implemented again.”
Death penalty is not only for the corrupt officials, they said, but also to those who are
convicted of heinous crimes-drug trafficking, rape, kidnapping, bribery and the likes
for “criminals should be dealt with iron hands and not kid’s gloves.”
I for one had been an advocate of death penalty during the height of the Abusayyaf
turmoil. I was among those who thought that taking Leo Echegaray’s life through
lethal injection was a sure way to liberate us from social injustice. But I guess,
growing old made me see that the highest form of justice is the one that makes a
person realize the weight of what he/she had done, and from there move forward
and be an inspiration to fellow “convicts,” now with a changed heart and a renewed
spirit, remorseful of the crime committed... and death penalty would never make that.
And with this, let me SCREAM LOUD ENOUGH! I DO NOT FAVOR DEATH
PENALTY:
Death Penalty magnifies the disparity between the upper class and the lower
class.
Those who are convicted are mostly those who cannot afford to avail service
of very good lawyers and ended up being either framed up or maltreated.
There are still lapses with our justice system and we have to improve this first.
In a study made by the Supreme Court from 1995 to 1999, two out of every
three death sentences handed down by the local courts were found to be
erroneous.
In a survey conducted among 425 convicts in 1998, most convicts were
agricultural workers, construction workers, transport workers, and workers in
sales and services. “Only 6% finished college while 32.4 % finished various
levels of high school while the remaining did not go to school or have finished
only elementary or vocational education.”

There are no hard facts that it is a deterrent to criminalities. We cannot

measure its effectiveness.

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 Even after the death of Leo Echegaray, there are still fathers who would rape
their daughters and drug lords are not even afraid of being caught. It still boils
down to family solidarity and moral values, which we need to strengthen if we
want to eliminate criminalities. This is a partnership of the government, the
church, the community and the family itself.

It is a superficial form of justice.

If someone will not commit a crime just because he/she is afraid to die, then I
would say it is very shallow. Someone should not commit crimes because
he/she knows that it is not right, period. Not because he might be caught
doing evil things and later suffer consequences.

YES, I SCREAM NO TO DEATH PENALTY not because I am for social injustice or

because I’m totally apathetic but because, I’m also a criminal myself. I may not
have killed 57 people in my own hands, but I’m too a sinner. I have fallen short of my
iniquities. I am killing Mother Earth every day with my self-centeredness every time I
would not pick up the candy wrappers on my way to work. I know that candy
wrappers would cause flood which can result to landslide and killing of thousands,
and yet, I seldom pick up the candy wrappers.
Yes, I am a criminal myself. I see a lot of children begging alms. I pity them.
Sometimes I would give a peso or two but after that, I would just walk away. I do not
do anything anymore. These children might be the next kidnappers, drug addicts...
and yet I am not doing anything about it.
I, too, deserve to die. I, too, have sinned. I am a criminal myself and yet, God has
forgiven me. “His grace has saved a wretch like me. I was once lost, and was found.
I was blind and now I see.” Who am I to advocate death penalty when I have
contributed in one way or another to social injustice?
I scream no to death penalty. Vengeance is with the Lord. -30-

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