Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Essay Topic:
Should the Philippines reinstate death penalty?


What is capital punishment? Capital punishment or in layman’s term death penalty is an execution of an offender to death after a conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. Crimes that can result to death penalty are murder, treason, drug smuggling or other capital and heinous crimes. In some countries such as Saudi Arabia , homosexuality and apostasy are punishable by death.
Around the world, only 36 countries are actively practising capital punishment, while 103 countries had completely abolished the dreaded punishment. Some countries, including the Philippines, has suspended it indefinitely.
In the Philippines, heinous crimes that rocked the citizens to its core has resulted of renewed calls for the government to revive death penalty. But should the Philippines resurrect capital punishment?
In every perspectives, the death penalty should remain dead.


“Death Penalty deters people from doing heinous crime”

Proponents argue that capital punishment discourages people from committing heinous crimes.  
However, this is not entirely true. Statistics says otherwise.
There are several studies refuting the claim that capital punishment deters crime rates.
A study by Amnesty International in the United States found out that the murder in non-death penalty states is considerably lower than the states that implement capital punishment. In year 2011 alone, Alaska, a state that doesn’t impose capital punishment, has 29 case of murder which is 92% lower compared to the state of Arizona which has 405 case of murder.
Similarly, in a survey conducted by American Criminology Society among criminologists, 88 percent believed that the punishment of death penalty is not a deterrent to murder.
Experts also conclude that capital punishment does not discourage people from doing crimes. Jeffrey Fagan, a law professor at Columbia University, shared common voice. He said that there is no credible scientific evidence that hinders criminal behaviour. He continued that executions are only meant to satisfy one’s vengeance.
Even in the Philippines, capital punishment, before it was suspended, failed to stop the numbers of crime from rising.  During the administration of Estrada, crime rate from the year 1999 increased by 15.3 percent or a total of 82,538 from 71,527 crimes in the previous year.


“It shows that the justice system has no sympathy for the criminals.”


Timothy Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and his infant child at their residence. He was convicted and sentenced by hanging. Three years after his execution, he was exonerated by court as police found evidence that his neighbour, John Christie, a serial killer was responsible for the murder of his wife and child.

One of the arguments raised by supporters of capital punishment is that death penalty provides the justice to the innocent souls of their crimes. However, there are also several cases of miscarriage of justice. Miscarriage of justice happens when an innocent is convicted and punished for the crimes they did not commit.
A 2014 study conducted estimated that 4.1% of inmates awaiting execution on death row in the United States are innocent, and that at least 340 innocent people may have been executed since 1973.
With numbers given, capital punishment is fundamentally flawed and does not guarantee that it will provide actual justice instead it becomes injustice to the innocent persons sentenced to death. Reviving death penalty is bound to repeat tragic and haunting execution of Timothy Evans.






Even if death penalty is reinstated crime itself will not be prevented because there are varied reasons why people commit crime. Serial killers, for example, commits horrendous crime because of their “urge” or “motivation”. Meanwhile crimes of passion makes someone commit crime because of intense feeling or affection.
Scientific study and statistical data conducted by various people and organization has proven that capital punishment is not an effective deterrent against crime and the worst reality of capital punishment is miscarriage of justice.  Executing an innocent man to his death is haunting and declaring someone innocent after his execution still cannot bring back the life of an innocent soul and the justice brought to parties involved. Injustice is immeasurable.


End notes:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-rates
https://kimkarla.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/re-imposing-of-death-penalty-in-the-philippines-approve-or-disapprove/
http://www.ihra.net/death-penalty-project
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executed-possibly-innocent
http://www.biography.com/people/groups/unnatural-death-executed
http://pcij.org/blog/2006/04/18/a-timeline-of-death-penalty-in-the-philippines
http://dokumentaryonijuantagalog.weebly.com/history-of-public-enemy.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/cdc56160-91eb-366d-ae0e-5d9c5a676fe2
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/many-prisoners-on-death-row-are-wrongfully-convicted/
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/justice/841077/Death-penalty-Your-verdict-99-of-Sun-readers-from-our-poll-vote-in-favour-of-reintroducing-capital-punishment.html

Friday, March 11, 2016

Why Senator Miriam Santiago Be Elected As The Sixteenth President Of the Philippines.



With the upcoming national elections this summer of 2016, politicians are in full force in wooing voters with common rhetoric we hear during elections such as alleviating poverty, providing jobs, and even promising the moon and stars with unrealistic promises such as eradication of crime within a limited time frame or even income tax exemptions for middle class earners. There are also certain political parties that are attempting to distinguish themselves by advocating particular cause such as “Straight Path” or “Government With A Heart” to garner the votes of the ordinary citizen.
But even with the sweet promises of these politicians, voters should be wary, realistic and rational in choosing a candidate. Voters should choose someone with integrity, and someone who follows the rule of law. Among the candidates for the highest office of the executive branch of our country, none of them meets that said quality except Senator Miriam Santiago.

Senator Miriam throughout the years in government service has proven the she has the integrity necessary for the position of president. Though she served all the branches of our government: a RTC judge, an Agrarian secretary under the administration of Cory , and a legislator for almost two decades, her time in every office she held wasn’t tainted or marred by scandal. In fact she was named as laureate of the Magsaysay Award for government service – “for bold and moral leadership in cleaning up a graft-ridden government agency."
In addition, during her tenure of being RTC judge, Sen. Miriam disposed of the highest number of cases in Metro Manila. Her reputation for integrity, competence, and efficiency became established, and she was showered with awards for judicial excellence from civic groups, notably as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Professionals of the Philippine Jaycees, and the Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service of the Philippine Lions.
Moreover Sen. Miriam has filed the most bills in the Senate despite of her ailments and being absent due to her illness. A total of 1,314 bills and resolutions she filed the most bills and resolutions, including Anti-Political and Anti-Epal bills. Unlike other top absentees in the Congress, Miriam proved that an ailment is not an impediment in doing her duties and responsibilities.


They say, there are no permanent friends and enemies in Philippine politics. Unlike traditional politicians, Sen. Miriam’s loyalty is the Philippine Constitution. She demonstrated these throughout the years.
During the impeachment trial of Pres. Estrada , she stated that the due process must be upheld and voted against the opening of the envelope. Though people mocked and branded her as lunatic, she stand with her decision.
Similarly, during the impeachment case of Chief Justice Renato Corona, Sen. Miriam acting as senator-judges regularly denounced the prosecutors for their failures in gathering evidence.
She was one of the three senators who didn’t took bribes in the form of disbursement acceleration program fund and priority development assistance fund in exchange for the conviction of the magistrate. She denounced the impeachment trial as “hypocritical accusation and a problem in this country where all for honest government and yet the world condemn us as one of the most corrupt country in the world.”
She acquitted the Chief Justice and concluded the verdict as “kung ang politika ay mangingibabaw sa batas wala na rin akong silbi.” (If politics prevails over the rule of law, I am no use for)


Suffrage is not an ordinary right. It is a sacred right protected and vested by our Constitution. However , it is our duty and responsibility to scrutinize the candidates who are running for office. We must choose someone who has pristine track record in office. We must choose someone who upholds the rule of law.
Senator Miriam has proven that during her years of government service. We must not underestimate the significance of the upcoming election. The next administration will decide the fate of country, the fate of our future and the fate of the next generation.