Senators Ping Lacson and Tito Sotto said they are no longer advocating for the reimposition of death penalty in the country.
Lacson, a presidential aspirant, said that he was converted after watching the film ‘The Life of David Gale’.
“Yun ang nakapagpabago ng aking attitude, ng aking pananaw at ng aking perspective tungkol sa death penalty,” Lacson said in a virtual forum.
Lacson said he is willing to withdraw the bill he authored calling for reinstatement of the capital punishment for heinous crimes including plunder.
“Namulat ‘yung aking kaisipan na mas importante na ma-save ‘yung buhay ng isang inosente na na-convict kaysa doon sa mag-execute tayo ng talagang convicted at talagang napatunayang nagkasala. Noong tinimbang ko ‘yun, sa tingin ko mas matimbang ma-save ‘yung buhay ng wrongly-convicted. So nagbago ang aking pananaw, kaya wi-withdraw ko ang aking finile na bill kung nandiyan pa ‘yan,” he added.
Lacson filed the death penalty bill in 2017 due to the alarming surge of heinous crimes.
Under the bill crimes subject to capital punishment include: treason, qualified piracy, qualified bribery, parricide, murder, infanticide, rape, kidnapping and serious illegal detention, robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons, destructive arson, sale, importation, and manufacture of dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals, and human trafficking.
Vice presidential aspirant Tito Sotto said that there could be other alternatives other than death penalty.
“Maganda rin ‘yung position nila eh, ‘yung mga kumokontra. Pag-iisipin mong mabuti, tama sila eh, except for high-level drug trafficking, tama sila in most of the reasonings that they were using,” Sotto said.
