Ineffectiveness of Laws and Punishment
The President again granted reprieve to those scheduled for execution this year. I am not really in favor of capital punishment but if it is in the law might as well implement it put it for a good purpose. Sadly, only in the Philippines where you have a death penalty that seems to be useless. To think that drug offenders are subject to death penalty but there we have so much proliferation of drugs and crimes involving drug addicts.
Here in Saudi Arabia, the reason this punishment is effective is that those convicted criminals subject to capital punishment are immediately executed. That is not to say that it is applicable to all, only to those whose convictions are without any doubt. There also those which do not have clear indication of guilt towards the accused which is subject for further review. In the Philippines, even if the perpetrators are caught fighting it out with the authorities there is always this presumption of innocence when they are brought into court. Almost always the horrible incident has already been forgotten but the case still has to go on at a snail's pace afterwards still has to be subjected for automatic review by the Supreme Court and further still subject to being reprieved by the President.
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Another thing is that Filipinos are prone to useless debates and unnecessary litigations. We as players or athletes, resort only to what the rules and/or officials have to say. If an umpire or a referee decides on a certain point it is for us players to obey the decision and go on with the match. That is not to say that the referee or umpire is free from any liability if he commits abuse or grave errors in officiating. That is what I wish we could also apply in real life. Obey first then complain later. What is happening now is that so much time and money are usually wasted only in the name of fighting for ones rights. What I would like to say is that we can still do this by putting responsible officials to do the job and having enough safeguards to avoid abuse and to punish the offending officials. I know that this is debatable but I would just like to say that I prefer this kind of setup.
posted by santi at
5:42 AM
3 Comments:
Sa Saudi, authorities make it impossible for people NOT to follow the law. Tama ka. As you might have wutnessed already, public beheadings are common there. What further motivation do people need NOT commit a crime? FEAR is one of the best motivators known. =)
Everytime I am confronted with the issue of capital punishment, I tend to re-think where I stand. And everytime, I end up rejecting it. I will have no doubts about it if I know that the real culprit will be the one to die but I know that our judicial system is full of loopholes. It is more likely that an innocent victim shall end up in the gallows, so to speak. In this country, money speaks a lot. It seems that this will only serve the moneyed and not the poor.
Kung ganyan rin lang na wala naman yatang balak to put the death sentence into effect, bakit hindi pa i-abolish yan?
Yes Doc the fear factor is there, first because the authorities are swift in going after the criminals and second the corresponding punishment is executed in a timely manner.
Tito Rolly,
As I've said I am also not in favor of capital punishment and would also like to see it abolished. But if anybody is tasked to fulfill something he/she should put more weight on what the law is asking rather than his/her own convictions.
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