August 6
PHILIPPINES:
Pacquiao interprets Bible differently in pushing death penalty: CBCP
An official of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines-Commission
on Prison Pastoral Care (CBCP-CPPC) said Senator Manny Pacquiao has a different
understanding of the Bible.
CBCP-CPPC executive secretary Rodolfo Diamante made the remarks in response to
Pacquiao's justification of death penalty as 'biblical'.
"It is just unfortunate that (Senator) Pacquiao has a wrong interpretation of
the Bible. He is actually misleading the public on his own understanding of the
scriptural passage. This is what is dangerous," Diamante said in an interview
on Monday.
"The Senator should ask his staff to do some solid research before sharing his
thoughts on any issue," he added.
At the same time, the CBCP-ECPPC official reminded Pacquiao that it is his duty
as a public official to be a protector of life.
"Furthermore, he was elected by the people to protect the quality of Life of
people and not to extinguish it," he added.
In a radio interview on Saturday, the boxing champion-turned-senator said he
will push for the speedy passage of a law reinstating death penalty in the
country.
Pacquiao's statements came after Pope Francis declared that death penalty is
unacceptable and can never be justified, even for heinous crimes.
President Rodrigo Duterte has earlier reiterated his stand in favor of
restoring death penalty as a deterrent against crime and illegal drugs.
In June 2006, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act 9346
which abolished death penalty in the country.
(source: pna.gov.ph)
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Remembering the Chiong sisters
21 years ago, on July 16, 1997, 2 sisters, Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong, were
abducted by 7 men as they were standing at a waiting shed at around 10:30 p.m.
along Archbishop Reyes Avenue in Cebu City. 2 days later, the body of Marijoy
was found at the bottom of a deep ravine in Tan-awan, Carcar City. The body of
Jacqueline was never recovered.
7 men were convicted by the Regional Trial Court, Branch 7, Cebu City, of the
crime: Francisco Juan Larranaga, alias Paco; Josman Aznar; Rowen Adlawan alias
Wesley; Alberto Cano alias Allan Pahak; Ariel Balansag; and brothers James
Andrew Uy alias "MM" and James Anthony Uy alias "Wang-Wang."
The decision dated May 5, 1999, found them "guilty beyond reasonable doubt of
the crimes of kidnapping and serious illegal detention and sentencing each of
them to suffer the penalties of '2 reclusiones perpetua,' plus damages."
The conviction was appealed to the Supreme Court.
On Feb. 3, 2004, the Supreme Court rendered its decision. It said, "These cases
involve the kidnapping, and illegal detention of a college beauty and her
comely and courageous sister. An intriguing tale of ribaldry and gang rape was
followed by the murder of the beauty queen. She was thrown off a cliff into a
deep forested ravine where she was left to die. Her sister was subjected to
heartless indignities, before she was also gang-raped. In the aftermath of the
kidnapping and rape, the sister was made to disappear. Where she is, and what
further crimes were inflicted upon her, remain unknown and unsolved up to the
present." (People vs Larranaga, 421 SCRA 530 at 541)
The dispositive portion of the decision reads: "WHEREFORE, the Decision of the
Regional Trial Court, Branch 7, Cebu City, in Criminal Cases nos. CBU-45303 and
45304 is AFFIRMED with the following modifications: (1) In Criminal Case no.
CBU-45303, the accused 'are found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the special
complex crime of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with homicide and
rape, and are sentenced to suffer the penalty of DEATH by lethal injection."
(This is the case involving Marijoy.)
Note that the Supreme Court not only affirmed the decision of the lower court,
but also imposed a higher penalty - death penalty by lethal injection. The
Court explained why it imposed the death penalty: "The prosecution was able to
prove that Marijoy was pushed to a ravine and died. Both girls were raped by
the gang. In committing the crimes, appellants subjected them to dehumanizing
acts. Dehumanization means 'deprivation of human qualities, such as
compassion.' From our review of the evidence presented, we found the following
dehumanizing acts committed by appellants: (1) Marijoy and Jacqueline were
handcuffed and their mouths mercilessly taped; (2) They were beaten to severe
weakness during their detention; (3) Jacqueline was made to dance amidst the
rough manners and lewd suggestions of the appellants; (4) She was taunted to
run and forcibly dragged to the van; and (5) Until now, Jacqueline remains
missing, which aggravates the Chiong family's pain. All told, considering that
the victims were raped, that Marijoy was killed, and that both victims were
subjected to dehumanizing acts, the imposition of the death penalty on the
appellants is in order." (People vs Larra???aga, supra, at pages 579-580)
As to the alibis presented by the accused, I suggest we read the records of the
case. (People vs Larranaga, supra, at pages 573-576)
The decision of the Supreme Court was unanimous. The Associate Justices were
Reynato Puno, Jose Vitug, Artemio Panganiban, Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo
Ynares Santiago, Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez, Antonio Carpio, Ma. Alicia
Austria Martinez, Renato C. Corona, Conchita Carpio Morales, Romeo Callejo Sr.
and Dante Tinga. All concurred.
Chief Justice Hilario Davide took no part, being related by affinity to the
victims, while Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna was on official leave.
In 2006, capital punishment was abolished, and the death sentences of the 7
convicts who were on death row awaiting execution were commuted to life in
prison.
An interesting development took place in 2007. A prisoner exchange treaty was
signed between Spain and the Philippines. It was called the Treaty on the
Transfer of Sentenced Persons between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Spain.
Paco Larranaga, 1 of the 7 men convicted, was a Spanish citizen. Under the
treaty, he could be allowed to serve the remainder of his prison term in Spain,
although the Spanish government would be bound by the terms of his conviction.
In 2009, Larranaga left the Philippines for a Spanish prison.
In remembrance of the Chiong sisters, perhaps Foreign Secretary Alan Peter
Cayetano could check if Larranaga is still in a Spanish prison. (source: Ramon
Farolan - opinion.inquirer.net)
BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh considers death penalty for fatal road accidents
Bangladesh's cabinet on Monday will consider capital punishment for traffic
accident deaths, a law ministry official said, as thousands of students held
protests for a 9th day over the deaths of 2 teenagers by a speeding bus in
Dhaka.
Tens of thousands of angry school and colleges students have been demanding
changes to Bangladesh's transport laws, paralysing the crowded capital of 18
million, after the 2 teenagers were killed when a privately operated bus ran
over a group of students on July 29.
"In this amendment it has been proposed to award the highest level of
punishment if it is killing by an accident," said the law ministry official,
who has been briefed on the matter but declined to be named ahead of a
decision.
The current punishment is a maximum jail term of 3 years. Using the death
penalty for road accidents is rare anywhere in the world. Bangladesh's
transport authority listed punishments given in different countries that ranged
from 14 years in the UK in extreme cases to 2 years in India.
Sheikh Shafi, a student of a polytechnic institute in Dhaka who lost his
brother in a road accident in 2015, said one of the problems was that bus
drivers are not paid fixed monthly salaries instead only earn commissions based
on the number of passengers, forcing them to work long hours.
"Our demand is that the owners must appoint them and they will work a maximum
of 10 hours. The commission based system must be eliminated," said Shafi, who
was injured while protesting on Saturday.
Amid the ongoing protests, an official vehicle carrying the US ambassador to
Bangladesh was attacked by a group of armed men on Sunday, some on motorcycles,
the embassy said in a statement. There were no injuries but 2 vehicles were
damaged.
The embassy has condemned the "brutal attacks and violence" against the student
protesters by security forces, a charge the government denies.
Police said they did not have an immediate explanation as to why the US
ambassador came under attack.
(source: iol.co.za)
TURKEY:
Death penalty debate rekindled in Turkey
Speculation surrounding the reintroduction of the death penalty has heightened
in Turkey following comments made by head of a minor Turkish party allied with
the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Cumhuriyet newspaper said.
Mustafa Destici, leader of the Great Unity Party (BBP), suggested a proposal to
reinstate the death penalty for offences such as murder, treason and sexual
offences against children would be introduced to Turkey's parliament in
October. He also suggested a referendum could be held in which the electorate
could decide on the issue. Debate about the death penalty, abolished in 2004,
has been ongoing in Turkey since the attempted coup of July 2016, with
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, having frequently said he would endorse any
legislation that reinstates the punishment.
However implementing any such decision would be problematic according to Ozturk
Turkdogan, head of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD). Turkdogan, a
lawyer, pointed out that Destici's proposal would require changing Turkey's
constitution, rather than laws and that gaining the necessary numbers of votes
in Turkey's 600 seat parliaments to do this, or even to bring the issue to a
referendum, would be difficult.
He also pointed out that Turkey is a signatory to the United Nations
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Additional Protocol No. 2
and a member of the European Court of Human Rights, both of which prohibit the
death penalty.
Any reintroduction of the death penalty, Turkdogan said, would also be
tantamount to "economic suicide", because it would result in the official end
of Turkey's decades old-bid for European Union membership.
(source: ahvalnews.com)
IRAQ:
Iraq hands death penalty to al-Qaeda member responsible for massacre 11 years
ago
An Iraqi court in the province of Diyala on Sunday sentenced an al-Qaeda member
to death, convicted of killing 19 people in an attack on a village 11 years
ago, the court announced.
Last week, the same court sentenced 4 more al-Qaeda members to death who were
convicted of carrying out attacks in the country in 2007.
"The Diyala Criminal Court has sentenced to death by hanging one of those
convicted of terrorism after committing criminal acts and belonging to
al-Qaeda," Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, the spokesperson for the Supreme
Judicial Council, said in a statement.
He added that "among the terrorist operations carried out by the convict, the
man killed 19 people, kidnapped 2 others, and wounded 1 person after an attack
with the armed group [al-Qaeda] on the village of Amiriyah - al-Rawashd in
Diyala Province."
Last year, a court in Basra sentenced 3 people to death for the same attack
carried out by several al-Qaeda militants in late July 2007 in the village of
al-Rawashd.
The exact number of those accused of the incident remains unknown. It is also
unclear how many other convicted members of the extremist group are in Iraqi
prisons awaiting the same fate.
Different human rights organizations, including the United Nations, have
repeatedly expressed their concerns about the rising number of death sentences
in Iraq.
Aside from their condemnation, the organizations warn that efforts by Iraqi
authorities to escalate the implementation of death sentences could lead to the
execution of innocent people.
(source: kurdistan24.net)
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