FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. has thumbed down calls for the reimposition of the death penalty, warning it could backfire on efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in appealing cases of overseas Filipinos detained on death row abroad.
“If we restore death penalty, how can we appeal?” Locsin said at a Senate hearing on Monday, adding, “if we feel that there’s a possibility of miscarriage of justice, how can we appeal for mercy and commutation of sentence?” if the death penalty were in place in the Philippines.
The DFA chief added that reviving the death penalty would make it doubly difficult for the Philippine government to appeal for the lives of Filipino citizens sentenced to die by foreign courts.
Locsin was replying to a question from Sen. Panfilo Lacson on how the Duterte administration would reconcile the situation where drug suspects are being killed while the government is appealing cases of Filipinos convicted abroad in drug cases.
Senators learned that based on data gathered by the DFA involving Filipinos incarcerated abroad, most of the offenses involved illegal drug cases.
The senators were also informed that majority of the respondents are facing the death penalty after being convicted as drug mules or attempting to smuggle drugs through foreign borders.
Image credits: AP/Manman Dejeto