[PODCAST] Law of Duterte Land: The new push for death penalty

President Rodrigo Duterte has renewed his push for the restoration of the death penalty in the Philippines.

His allies at the House of Representatives wasted no time and revived the hearings in the middle of a global pandemic, slammed as ill-timed even by some bill sponsors.

From the death penalty’s demise in Congress in 2017 to its resurrection now, the Duterte government and its allies still have no data to prove their claim that it has a deterrent effect.

There is also the question of legality.

Because even though the 1987 Constitution allows for the death penalty for “compelling reasons involving heinous crimes,” the Philippines ratified in 2007 the 2nd optional protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which bans it.

Listen to this episode of Law of Duterte Land for more discussion.

Listen to past episodes:

• Episode 1 Part 1: Supreme Court’s most controversial decisions
• Episode 1 Part 2: Department of Justice’s evolving definition of warrantless arrests
• Episode 2: The rule of law in the time of the coronavirus
• Episode 3: Pandemic and the great wall of free speech
• Episode 4: Will petition to disclose Duterte health work?
• Episode 5: Legal difficulties of a prisoner mass release
• Episode 6: Breaking down the ABS-CBN franchise legal and political issues
• Episode 7: ABS-CBN and the 3 tangled branches of government
• Episode 8: Are extraordinary writs still effective in the time of Duterte?
• Episode 9: Dissecting anti-terror bill and threats to freedoms
• Episode 10: The problems with the Cybercrime Law
• Episode 11: Can we trust the gov’t panel probing drug war deaths?
• Episode 12: Why press freedom is legally protected
• Episode 13: What is People’s Initiative and will it work for ABS-CBN?

If you have tips and suggestions for episodes, email the host at lian.buan@rappler.com.  – Rappler.com