NATION | Alvarez: Admin lawmakers against death penalty free to leave

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said PDP-Laban will make a party stand on the revival of the death penalty. File

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers from administration party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan who will vote against the proposed revival of the death penalty may resign from the party, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said on Wednesday.

Alvarez said that PDP-Laban will make a party stand on the restoration of the death penalty.
"They are free to resign from the party. I will not force them, of course," Alvarez told reporters in an ambush interview.

The House speaker also warned deputy speakers, committee chairs and vice chairs that they will be replaced if they vote against the reimposition of capital punishment.

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"'Pag deputy speaker ka pangit naman na hindi ka sang-ayon doon sa administration-sponsored bill, at saka 'pag chairman ka nung committees," Alvarez said.

The House leaders may also opt to leave the supermajority if they will go against the administration-sponsored bill.

Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a deputy speaker. She signed a law abolishing the death penalty in 2006 while she was president. She said in December 2016 that she is opposed to the death penalty.

She said then that she had talked to President Rodrigo Duterte about her stand and that "it's alright for him" that she is against it.

House members from the supermajority will hold a caucus Wednesday afternoon to discuss the death penalty.

Meanwhile, the Senate has suspended further hearings on the revival of the death penalty until the Department of Justice can explain how the country will not be violating any international treaty if it enacts a bill to bring the death penalty back.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, noted that the Philippines is a signatory of the Treaty of International Convention on Civil and Political Rights of the United Nations Human Rights Office.