Duterte seeks death penalty, abolition of juvenile law

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte
(Photo from Facebook)

MANILA—Davao City Mayor and presidentiable Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday in his weekend talk show that he will propose to the congress the re-implementation of death penalty. This time, outlaws would be executed publicly in the form of hanging, the mayor said.

“I will recommend to Congress the restoration of death penalty by hanging in public,” Rodrigo was quoted as saying in an Inquirer.net report.

Duterte will ask the congress to build thirty courts to speed up the trying of the cases of criminals up for execution.

The mayor focused on criminals who are convicted of drug-related cases.

“Drug addiction is easy money. Once you get it, it’s a done deal, you’re already into eternal addiction. I will not hesitate to use the military and the police and maybe, exercise the extraordinary power of the President to stop it,” the mayor added in the same report.

Juvenile law

Once elected president, Duterte will repeal the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, the law that protects the rights of children. Section 6 of the juvenile law states that “a child fifteen (15) years of age or under at the time of the commission of the offense shall be exempt from criminal liability.”

Duterte said that the juvenile law is stupid and has “actually ushered in a new generation of criminals.”

“It has not helped the country at all and instead promoted criminality,” Duterte said in the same report.

The Davao mayor vowed to put end corruption, abuse and criminality in the first three to six months of his term, if he wins the 2016 election.

“There’s always a right time for the right reason, if it’s my fate to become president, it would be the right time to stop these things,” he added.