MANILA (Updated, 4:28 p.m.) -- One of the six incumbent justices vying for the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said Wednesday death penalty is not a necessary deterrent to crime.
In response to a query by retired Justice Regino Hermosisima, Associate Justice Arturo Brion said while the penalty was constitutional, this should not be implemented again.
"As much as we want to annihilate all people who committed heinous crimes, I will go for the lesser penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole," he said.
Individuals who were found guilty of high crimes such as murder, kidnapping and rape are required to serve up to 40 years in jail after then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed in 2006 a law deleting death as capital punishment.
Brion told the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) about his aspiration of a "dream court," one that is founded on ethics.
He admitted that graft and corruption does not only happen in the judiciary, calling it a "societal problem."
"We need cooperation from the Executive and Legislative to stop this. The public needs to be assured that there are no shenanigans within the judiciary," he said.
Source: SunStar, July 25, 2012
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