Death penalty, DOFil among Senate priorities

MANILA, Philippines — The reimposition of the death penalty and the creation of a Department of Overseas Filipino Workers (DOFil) will be among the proposed measures to be tackled by the Senate when it resumes session this month, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said yesterday.

He believes the death penalty has a better chance in the 18th Congress since a number of colleagues have expressed support for his proposal to cover only high-level drug traffickers.

Since there are no poor drug lords and drug traffickers, the idea that capital punishment is anti-poor is no longer at issue, noting the claim of some sectors that only the rich can get good lawyers.

“Most of them (senators) are willing (to support the reimposition of the death penalty) and then those who initially are not in favor of the death penalty agree with me when they learned that the proposal was for high-level drug lords. I already had a talk with Sen. Koko Pimentel,” Sotto said over dwIZ.

He said imposing the death penalty on drug lords and drug traffickers will deter them from continuing their illegal activities even inside jail facilities.

“Incarcerated drug traffickers can still operate their illegal activities, they even become big-time inside jails. So they must be inhibited, they can no longer operate – the death penalty can deter them from their illegal drug operations,” he added.

With the reported cases of death due to stray bullets, Sotto also raised the possibility of including individuals who fire guns on Christmas and New Year in the list of offenders who will be meted with the death penalty.

He cited in particular the case of 12-year-old Suzette Manamparan who died after getting hit by a stray bullet while welcoming the New Year outside her house in Sapad town, Lanao del Norte.

“Generally, most of our kababayans do not want the death penalty, let us punish those who fire guns in the New Year. It will surely stop those firing their guns indiscriminately,” Sotto said.

The Senate, he added, is also studying the proposal to create the DoFil, which main proponent Sen. Christopher Bong Go said aims to implement one country-team approach of government offices and personnel posted abroad.

“Apart from DOLE, there is the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration with a bureau, when we create DoFil, all those agencies can be put in a department, that can be the first step in rightsizing,” Sotto noted.

President Duterte has certified as urgent the creation of a DoFil that is designed to have a one country-team approach, requiring all officials in Philippine diplomatic posts to act together as one team in protecting the rights and advancing the welfare of Filipino migrant workers with the guidance of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Foreign Service Posts.

“With the one country-team approach to the latest version of the DoFil bill, we hope to respond more quickly and smoothly to overseas Filipinos in distress,” he said.