In moves lauded by Malacañang, both chambers of Congress yesterday approved their respective measures to repeal the Death Penalty Law.

The Senate yesterday overwhelmingly approved on third and final reading a measure repealing the country’s Death Penalty Law that has arguably failed to serve as an effective deterrent factor to the commission of heinous crimes.

Last night, the House of Representatives also approved on third and final reading House Bill 4826 abolishing the death penalty and two other measures certified by Malacañang as urgent administration proposals.

The House also approved House Bills 3315 and 5352 which, respectively provides compensation to victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime and amends the election automation law and pushes for partial automation of next year’s polls.

Voting 119 in favor and 20 against, the Lower House approved House Bill 4826 which seeks to abolish the death sentence and is expected to save over 1,081 convicts either currently awaiting execution by lethal injection or hoping for a reversal of their sentences by the Supreme Court. One congressmen abstained.

In a statement, House Speaker Jose C. de Venecia Jr. congratulated his colleagues for taking a strong stand to abolish the capital punishment.

"We have taken this courageous decision because we believe in the sanctity of human life and in the value of justice not as an act of retribution but as tough penalty for those sentenced to life imprisonment," he said.

Malacañang immediately lauded both chambers for repealing Republic Act 7659 or the Death Penalty Law as a sign of respect for human life.

"We congratulate and thank Congress for this historic act of statesmanship and humanity," Presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio said.

"It’s great to see the upper chamber’s legislative mill in high gear in defense of justice and the sanctity of human life," he added.

President Arroyo earlier certified the bill as urgent to repeal the death penalty law, which was signed into law on Dec. 13, 1993 by then President Fidel Ramos.

With 16 affirmative votes and only one abstention manifested by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, senators repealed the country’s Death Penalty Law despite strong oppositions by anticrime groups and the families of the victims of heinous crimes.

Those who voted in favor of the measure were Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., and Senate President Pro Tempore Juan M. Flavier.

Also voting in the affirmative were Senators Panfilo Lacson, Jamby Madrigal, Luisa Estrada, Pia Cayetano, Rodolfo Biazon, Manuel Roxas II, Ralph Recto, Joker Arroyo, Juan Ponce Enrile, Richard Gordon, Edgardo Angara, and Alfredo Lim.

Approved was Senate Bill (SB) 2254 which abolishes the capital punishment through lethal injection. It was authored and sponsored by Senators Serge Osmeña, Manuel Villar, and Pimentel. Both Villar and Osmeña were, however, absent in the voting.

Repealed are Republic Acts 8177 and 7659, or the Act Designating Death by Lethal Injection and the Death Penalty Law, respectively. In lieu of the death penalty, punishment for those convicted of heinous crimes is downgraded to life imprisonment.

In the House, House Bill 4826 was unanimously approved after principal author Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman accepted an amendment introduced by Caloocan City Rep. Luis Asistio and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte.

Asistio and Villafuerte proposed that all death sentences be degraded to restrictive life imprisonment instead of reclusion perpetua and that convicts must be freed from prison after serving a maximum of 30 years.

"I am closer to home than anyone here on the floor. I believe life imprisonment is the best alternative to death penalty," Asistio said.

Villafuerte said the unless granted clemency or parole by the President, a convict sentenced to life imprisonment will have to stay in prison until he dies.

"Life imprisonment means the convict is staying in prison until death do you part," he said.

Upon incessant lobbying by the Catholic church, lawmakers have been pushing for the immediate abolition of the 1995 Death Penalty Law which they claimed has not become an effective deterrent against the commission of heinous crimes.

The Death Penalty Law through lethal injection is considered by many as a "barbaric and un-Christian" form of punishment which they said does not conform to the constitutional mandate prohibiting cruel ways of penalizing criminal offenders.

The repeal of the Death Penalty Law, however, is strongly being opposed by anti-crime groups which have decried the audacity of criminal syndicate groups in carrying out their nefarious activities, victimizing many innocent individuals, including women and children.

Last Monday, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) chaired by Lauro Vizconde expressed suspicion over the haste by which SB 2245 is to be enacted into law, aside from demanding strict justice for being victims of heinous crimes themselves.

"At this point in time of our criminal situation when heinous crimes all over the country have become ordinary happenings, the suspicious haste by which the President is trying to have the law abolished alarms us," he said in his letter of appeal to the senators.

"And we, victims of heinous crimes, appeal to you that we be given all the opportunities to be heard because we stand to suffer most should the Death Penalty Law be indiscriminately scrapped," he added.

Vizconde suspected that Mrs. Arroyo is rushing the enactment into law of the proposed repeal of the country’s Death Penalty Law because she wants to earn "pogi" points when she leaves the country to visit Pope Benedict XVI on June 24.

Last April, the President granted all death convicts a blanket commutation of sentences to life imprisonment in pursuance of her pro-life stance.

Arroyo, a devout Catholic, often said she has taken the pro-life stand due to her Catholic beliefs.

Since assuming presidency in 2001, Arroyo has yet to allow a scheduled execution of a death row convict to push through, always issuing reprieves for those set to visit the lethal injection chamber. (with a report by Genalyn Kabiling)