August 16
SOUTH KOREA: [SURVEY OF LAWMAKERS]--Voices against death penalty louder than retention About 57 % of lawmakers - 135 out of 237 - say they want the death penalty to be abolished. About 40 % said the harshest punishment should be retained while the remaining 8 did not disclose their positions. Among the 123 ruling Uri Party lawmakers who replied to the survey, conducted by The Korea Herald to mark its 51st anniversary yesterday, about 74 % were for abolition. 8 members from the small opposition Democratic Labor Party also unanimously supported repeal of capital punishment. But in the conservative Grand National Party, the largest opposition political group in the nation, considerably more respondents called for retention of the death penalty. Among the 96 GNP respondents, 63, or about 66 %, said the death penalty should be maintained, while 30, or 13.2 %, supported abolition. While there are 58 people on death row in Korea, no one has been executed here since 1998. Lawmakers who want to retain the punishment believe capital punishment, or an eye-for-an-eye retribution, is necessary to prevent heinous crimes. They also say Korean society is "not yet ready" to do without it, considering public sentiment, especially in view of the case of confessed serial killer Yoo Young-chul who said just a few weeks ago that he murdered 21 people in 10 months. Abolitionists argue the death penalty has shown no visible effect whatsoever in crime prevention. Since the possibility of misjudgment and abuse of the death penalty by whoever has the power can never be fully eliminated, they think it should be abolished to avoid "institutionalized murder" of the innocent. Basically, abolitionists feel that an eye-for-an-eye does not serve justice. Uri Party Rep. Yoo In-tae is currently framing a bill to replace the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. He is working with a group of religious leaders and lawyers who have led the anti-death penalty movement for more than a decade. "We plan to submit the bill in September's regular session of the assembly. In the meantime, we will hold public hearings," Yoo told the Herald. A similar proposal was submitted 3 years ago, but the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee failed to approve it. The committee is currently composed of 8 Uri Party members, 6 GNP and 1 DLP. A news report said last month that at least 8 members of the committee favor abolition. (source: The Korea Herald) PHILIPPINES: Cuenco seeks death penalty for cops who steal evidence If a Congressional inquiry on Aug. 27 finds that 4 Maritime policemen indeed kept for themselves 2 of 4 kilos of shabu seized from a drug courier last July 28, Cebu South District Rep. Antonio Cuenco would immediately propose to amend the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. What the amendments shall be, Cuenco did not say. However, in connection with the case, he said he would propose a bill that would seek the death penalty instead of the current 12 to 20 years for law enforcers who bungle cases or misappropriate or steal evidences from suspects. The rationale behind this is that if drug suspects are meted the death penalty, why shouldn't authorities who steal from suspects be meted the same? Cuenco said. Drug courier Willy Solon, who arrived in Cebu last July 28 from Manila, was arrested at the port area by the Maritime police. Solon was allegedly brought to two pension houses before the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency was informed about his arrest 13 hours later. Today, the PDEA is filing a case against PSr./Insp Roger Mangaoang, PO3 Florito Banilad, PO2 Eric Deluna, and PO1 Napoleon Taneo. Witnesses who saw the policemen bring the suspect to 2 pension houses corroborated Solons statements. Yesterday, Cuenco and Cebu City prosecutor Oscar Capacio met to discuss the chances of turning Solon into state witness. Capacio said everything has to be evaluated first before anything can be finalized. The court would decide whether Solon is qualified. If the case against Solon is amended to include 2 accomplices, the court will decide if Solon is the least guilty of the 3 and that if he is willing to testify against them. (source: The Freeman)
