Palace: GMA consistent on death penalty stand

President Arroyo will sign into law the bill seeking to abolish the death penalty despite opposition from anti-crime groups, Malacañang said yesterday.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and Presidential Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio said Mrs. Arroyo was merely being consistent in her stand against capital punishment.

"The decision has been made," Bunye said, adding that Mrs. Arroyo had even certified the bill to abolish the death penalty as urgent.

Claudio said they were just awaiting the transmittal of the enrolled copy of the bill to the Palace for the President’s signature.

The ceremonial signing of the bill may take place next week, he added.

Bunye and Claudio said newspaper photographs of Mrs. Arroyo in a rally held for rape victim Baby Echegaray in 1999 only showed her support for the girl to obtain justice.

She had always been opposed to the death penalty, even as a senator, the two officials said.

"When she joined the rally for the girl, she was secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and vice president," Claudio noted.

Meanwhile, a lawyer said yesterday that victims of heinous crimes will be deprived of due process if the death penalty is abolished.

"The abolition of the death penalty is very questionable," lawyer Alan Paguia said at the weekly Fernandina Media Forum in Greenhills, San Juan.

"Number one, it would take a constitutional amendment to actually abolish the death penalty. The Bill of Rights, Article 3, Section 1 clearly provides that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law," he said.

"What is the necessary implication? A person may be deprived of life, liberty, provided there is due process of law. So legislation cannot change that," he said.

Paguia said Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban’s argument only covers the constitutional provision that the death penalty shall not be imposed "except for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes."

"In all these cases of 1,000 convictions awaiting execution, there was recognition by the Supreme Court of compelling reasons involving heinous crimes," he said.

"Suddenly, just because (Mrs.) Gloria Arroyo is going to Rome, there is no more compelling reason? I think this is difficult to teach in law school. You cannot pass recitation in law school if you argue that way."

Paguia said the situation about the death penalty has been reduced to a "political zarzuela."

"What is constitutional has been reduced to political give and take," he said.

"We cannot do that (which) we cannot teach in law school. That does not follow the rule of law. Now, if you want to change the law, it is fine with us. But you must change the law in accordance with the Constitution."

Meanwhile, more than 100 relatives of victims of heinous crimes registered their indignation over the repeal of the death penalty law at a rally at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila on Tuesday.

The group heard Mass near the Andres Bonifacio Monument at around 3 p.m., carrying placards with such messages as "Justice is dead" and "PGMA has no political will."

Dante Jimenez, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption founding chairman, warned that even if Mrs. Arroyo signs the bill abolishing the death penalty, they will never respect it.

"(Lawmakers) did not even bother to consult the victims when they passed this bill," he said.

The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), a Protestant group closely allied with Mrs. Arroyo, also denounced the scrapping of the death penalty.

Lawyer Jose Malvar Villegas, Citizens’ Crime Watch head, lauded the lawmakers who voted against the repeal of the death penalty law.

On the other hand, ousted President Joseph Estrada praised Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban yesterday for declaring that the Supreme Court might have committed a judicial error in affirming the death sentence of convicted rapist Leo Echegaray.

"We have to admire Chief Justice Panganiban for being honest and admitting the errors," Estrada told reporters during a break at his Sandiganbayan hearing.

Estrada took the witness stand yesterday for the formal start of the prosecution’s cross-examination.

He is facing plunder and perjury charges before the Special Division of the government’s anti-graft court.

When asked by reporters why Panganiban did not issue any statement on the High Tribunal’s 2001 decision to uphold the legality of Mrs. Arroyo’s presidency, Estrada said Panganiban had documented the court’s errors in his book, "Reforming the Judiciary."

"Anyway, he has written a book, ‘Reforming the Judiciary,’" the deposed leader said. "It’s clear that they did not follow the Constitution. They cited a passage in the Bible. It can easily be seen from there that what they did was very wrong." — With Sandy Araneta, Mike Frialde