Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said he was happy that President Rodrigo Duterte again pushed for the death penalty by lethal injection for drug offenses during the fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief said Duterte’s renewed support of the death penalty would “boost” its chances of passage in Congress.
“I’m happy that he appealed to Congress for the passage of the death penalty law for drug trafficking because my death penalty bill has been languishing at the referred committee for one year already without actions taken,” Dela Rosa said in a message to reporters.
“It’s not moving. So the President’s appeal to Congress will give this law a big boost,” Bato said in Filipino in an interview over CNN, Philippines.
The Senator also believes Filipinos would support the idea of bringing back capital punishment of drug-related offenses.
“I ran for Senator with no other platform but the reimposition of the death penalty for drug trafficking, and I our countrymen made me win. I was number five in the elections with only one platform,” he said.
“So that means that the Filipino people really want to revive the death penalty for drug trafficking. Not all heinous crimes will be covered,” Dela Rosa added.
Also read: In case you missed it: Highlights of Duterte’s SONA 2020
The Senator filed Senate Bill No. 226 or the Death Penalty Law, but it was referred to the chamber’s Committee on Justice and Human Rights in 2019.
In December 2019, Dela Rosa urged the Senate to tackle his bill in the first quarter of 2020, but it did not push through.
Last March, Senator Bato renewed his push to bring back the death penalty in the Philippines amid the killing of suspended Bureau of Corrections legal division chief Fredric Anthony Santos.
Dela Rosa is a former BuCor director-general from April 30, 2018, until October 12, 2018.
He expressed his frustrations over the killings of at least 15 BuCor officials since 2011. All of those cases remain unsolved until today.
Meanwhile, Senator Manny Pacquiao has expressed his support to bring back the death penalty in the Philippines, saying, “It’s in the Bible.”