Pacquiao should wait until death penalty gets more votes

Senator Manny Pacquiao should wait until the death penalty proposal would get more votes before presenting it to plenary, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Thursday. (Photo: Manny Pacquiao/Facebook)

MANILA — Senator Manny Pacquiao should wait until the death penalty proposal would get more votes before presenting it to plenary, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Thursday.

It may be recalled that Pacquiao was designated as chair of the sub-committee tackling death penalty bills after House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez chided the Senate for acting “slowly” on a measure that was passed in the House.

These bills are supposed to be tackled under the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, however, its chair, Senator Richard Gordon, is against the reimposition of capital punishment.

Lacson, who is for the reimposition of the death penalty, said that Pacquiao should “wait for the proper time” to get more votes otherwise, the proposal would be most likely rejected.

“Di dahil sa mabagal kundi kung ako chairman ng subcommittee at nakita ko malabo makakuha ng boto kung sponsor ko sa floor, ide-debate sa floor at pagbobotohan, mas mainam magtiyaga muna ako, wait for the proper time (It’s not being slow, it’s just that if I were the chairman of the sub-commitee and I can see that the bill is least likely to win votes when I sponsor it in the floor, it is better to be patient, to wait for the proper time),” Lacson said in a Kapihan press conference.

He said that this way, senators could have more time to engage in informal discussions to “crystallize” issues and could have the chance to change the minds of senators against its reimposition.

Lacson admitted that there was a slim chance that the death penalty proposal would pass in the Senate and noted that it would be a “waste of time” to tackle it at this time.

“If I were Senator Pacquiao, I would try to guess how many votes I would get and if it would be enough to pass the Senate version of the death penalty,” Lacson said.

Lacson said that tackling other bills which had a higher chance of being passed such as the National ID System bill would save the Senate time.