Ashanti S.

Feleo

X-Dayrit

“Should Death Penalty be imposed in the Philippines?”

There’s a lot of criminals all around the world. They do bad things if they want it or were forced
to do it. Robbery, Kidnapping, Assault, Homicide, Rape, Murder, Illegal drugs involvement and
many more. We are protected by many different Republic Acts and Laws. Every human even
animal have something that would protect their rights. There are crimes that are punishable by
death. A drug-related drive-by shooting, murder during a kidnapping, murder for hire, and
genocide. What if someone committed one of these? A death penalty may not be the answer.
United States, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and most Islamic states have abolished capital
punishment either in law or in practice. And now, the Philippines are also deciding if we will also
allow it. My claim is that the Death penalty SHOULD NOT be imposed in the Philippines. Why? I
have three reasons: First, the justice system here in the Philippines only favors the wealthy
persons. Second, Innocent people dies. Lastly, a Death Penalty is definitely Degrading.

First, the justice system here in the Philippines only favors the wealthy persons. For example, the
issue when death penalty was first imposed in the Philippines. A House Senior Deputy Minority
Leader and Buhay party-list Rep.Lito Atienza said “The last time the country experimented on the
death penalty; wrongful execution rate was around 15 percent. We expect this rate to shoot up,
considering the administration’s apparent plan to quickly put to death a lot of people inside a
very short period.” There was also a statement there that during the administration of President
Joseph Estrada, at least one of the seven convicts actually put to death was later found to have
been mistakenly executed. And there was another statement from The Chief Justice Artemio
Panganiban, he shocked the nation in 2006 when he belatedly revealed that the case against
Leo Echegaray suffered from fatally defective charge sheet, and that a “judicial error” had
caused the house painter’s unfounded execution in 1999. This simply shows that someone who
has power can do what he wants, even control the law.

Second, Innocent people dies. By simply accepting a death penalty, there’s a risk within.
Because there's a possibility that the one accused is innocent only not proven. One example is
from the United States. 123 inmates on death row have been released in 25 different states
throughout the United States since 1973. These death row inmates were released due to the
evidence proving they were innocent all along. When it comes to execution, one can never be
sure who is truly innocent and who is truly guilty.

Third, a Death Penalty is definitely Degrading. No matter what the situation is, the death penalty
is degrading for everyone involved. Many executions are from high-profile cases. Which then
turns these executions into an even more public event. For example, the United States even will
go far as live broadcasting the lethal injections of these inmates. Making a public event out of it
is degrading, cruel and very inhumane.

In 14 countries that have the death penalty it cannot prove that the criminal rate does lessen.
For example, in the past ten years, the number of executions in the U.S. has increased while the
murder rate has declined. Some commentators have maintained that the murder rate has
dropped because of the increase in executions. However, during this decade the murder rate in
non-death penalty states has remained consistently lower than the rate in states with the death
penalty. When comparisons are made between states with the death penalty and states
without, the majority of death penalty states show murder rates higher than non-death penalty
states. The average of murder rates per 100,000 populations in 1999 among death penalty states
was 5.5, whereas the average of murder rates among non-death penalty states was only 3.6.
The death penalty violates the most fundamental human right – the right to life. It is the ultimate
cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The death penalty is discriminatory. A statement
from someone that makes sense “The death penalty for alleged drug offenders, like extrajudicial
executions, violates international law, deprives people of the right to life, and disproportionately
targets the poor,” said Champa Patel. AGAIN my reasons were the justice system here in the
Philippines only favors the wealthy persons. Second, Innocent people dies. Lastly, a Death
Penalty is definitely Degrading. These reasons support my claim that Death Penalty SHOULD NOT
be imposed in the Philippines.