ASEAN lawmakers urge Congress to reject death penalty bill

MANILA, Philippines – Members of the parliamentary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) called on the members of the Congress to reject the bill re-imposing the death penalty.

The ASEAN lawmakers described the death penalty as a barbaric and outdated form of punishment. They said that it represents the kind of policy the region should be moving away from, "not back toward."

“As lawmakers from across Southeast Asia, we stand opposed to the reintroduction of capital punishment in the Philippines, and we urge our counterparts in the Philippine Congress to reject the bill currently before them that would legalize the practice,” ASEAN parliamentarians said in a solidarity statement.

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with those Philippine legislators who are fighting this bill and support them in their principled struggle, which is based on strong evidence that this policy is wrong for the country,” they added.

The ASEAN parliamentarians said they already worked across Southeast Asia to push for the abolition of the practice and yet some regional governments maintain it. They cited that there are 140 countries that embraced the abolition of the practice while 80 countries ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The parliamentarians also agreed that the Philippines, as part of the ICCPR, was already on the right track when it abolish the capital punishment in 2006. They consider the signing of the Second Optional Protocol monumental for the Philippines. 

Like the International Commission of Jurists, the ASEAN lawmakers said the passage of death penalty bill will jeopardize the country’s international standing.

“It is clear that reintroducing capital punishment would be a mistake for the Philippines and a setback for our region. As fellow legislators, we strongly urge our counterparts to oppose this bill and keep the death penalty illegal in the Philippines,” the ASEAN lawmakers concluded.

Fourteen members of the parliamentary from Cambodia and Malaysia signed the solidarity statement opposing the revival of the death penalty.

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