Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — House Majority Leader Rudy Fariñas denies the removal of plunder on the list of crimes punishable by death in a currently proposed bill.
In a text message sent to CNN Philippines on Friday, Fariñas said Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and him were still in the process of building consensus on the matter.
“The bill as it stands now has plunder as punishable by reclusion perpetua to death,” he said.
Alvarez earlier said plunder has been removed from the list after the supermajority caucus on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Justice committee chair Rey Umali confirmed that House leaders planned to come up with a set of amendments to the current bill, including the removal of plunder from crimes punishable by death.
Read: Solons propose removal of plunder from crimes punishable by death
However, the House majority leader said as of this time, there was no plan to remove plunder from the list.
He said he sent out a written inquiry to all members of the majority on Thursday asking them about their individual stand on the death penalty.
The majority leader also asked them what specific offenses they wanted included or excluded in the bill, if they were in favor of the reimposition of the death penalty.
Fariñas also asked majority bloc members to identify three crimes they wanted to be punished by death, in the event that they would limit the number of offenses punishable by death to only three.
Meanwhile, Alvarez also confirmed to CNN Philippines via a text message that he is amenable to including plunder among the list of crimes punishable by death in case a lawmaker proposes it during plenary debates.
Several lawmakers had questioned the removal of plunder from the list of crimes punishable by death.
Ifugao representative Teddy Baguilat said plunder was one crime politicians would mostly be culpable.
Baguilat argued that it only showed how anti-poor the death penalty was because it exempted crimes committed by people in power.
Similarly, Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list Representative Sherwin Tugna said plunder was not merely an act of graft and corruption — but a systematic and a series of acts of stealing.
“Amassing wealth by greedy public officials through repeated stealing should be punishable by reclusion perpetua to death,” he said.
