MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte thinks rape with homicide should be included in the list of crimes punishable by death.

Reporters asked him on Thursday, March 9, if he would sign a death penalty bill that excludes plunder and rape. He said he would find such a bill “lacking.”

“Medyo kulang. ‘Yun dapat ‘yung rape with homicide, re-rape-in ka, tapos patayin ka; re-rape-in ka tapos kunan ka ng pera tapos papatayin ka. Dapat lang,” said Duterte.

(It would be a bit lacking. Rape with homicide, you get raped and then killed, or rape, then they steal your money, then they kill you. It’s only fitting.)

“Heinous crime. It’s a heinous crime,” he added.

Previously, Duterte said he wanted to know the “rationale” for the exclusion of plunder and rape from the list of offenses punishable by death.

He was told by lawmakers that “they could not agree among themselves,” he said.

The President added that he would “let them solve” the issue on their own.

The House of Representatives, dominated by Duterte allies, passed its version of the death penalty bill, House Bill (HB) Number 4727, last Tuesday, March 7. (READ: LIST: How congressmen and women voted on the death penalty bill)

The measure allows judges to punish perpetrators of certain drug-related crimes with either life imprisonment or death. (READ: Who decides who lives? Lawmakers explain death penalty votes)

After HB 4727’s approval, the measure will be transmitted to the Senate for another 3 readings.

The bill is expected to be challenged in the upper chamber, with Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III saying the vote could go either way. (READ: Pimentel on death penalty: ‘Close fight’ in the Senate)

To push for the capital punishment measure’s passage, pro-death penalty senators are considering to limit the punishment to only high-level drug trafficking. – Rappler.com