Years after 75-year-old mom’s slay, Cherry Pie Picache speaks vs. death penalty

Actress Cherry Pie Picache, whose mother has been murdered five years ago, reiterated on Thursday that she is not in favor of reimposing death penalty in the Philippines.

"I see no point for death penalty to be revived. Now more than ever, I would really like to advocate for restorative justice," Picache said during an event held in Pasig City which coincides with the celebration of  17th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Picache said that she had already overcome the "forgiveness part" and realized that there was more work to do now that she met the killer of her then 75-year-old mother.

Her mother Zenaida Sison was found stabbed to death inside her house in Quezon City in September 2014.

The suspect, Michael Flores, was found guilty of robbery with homicide a year after.

"Of course it’s very difficult for us the victims but I think towards our offender, I realized that it’s more difficult for him," Picache said.

"I realized he was having a difficult time coping, realizing the crime or the evil that he has done towards us and accepting that he has done it, na wala na 'yung drugs, he’s back in his senses," she added while recalling the time she talked to Flores five years after the crime.

‘Anti-poor, error-prone’

The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) also expressed strong opposition to the reimposition of death penalty in the country.

It underscored that there is no conclusive proof that capital punishment deters the commission of crimes.

FLAG further called it anti-poor, pegging the estimated cost of competently defending a person accused with death penalty at P329,000 per year.

"Poor persons charged with capital offenses may not receive fair trials due to their inability to hire competent, experienced or effective counsel. Thus, the practical effect of the death penalty is discrimination against the poor," it said in a position paper.

It also said that subjecting convicts to death penalty could be error-prone, citing information from the Supreme Court that 71.77% of the total death penalty cases which have been directly elevated before the Court had either been modified or vacated--sparing 651 out of 907 appellants from lethal injection.

Moreover, it said that the Philippines would be violating international treaty obligations if it reimposes death penalty.

"By ratifying the Inernational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1986, and the 2nd Optional Protocol to the ICCPR without reservations in 2007, the Philippines, as a sovereign nation, voluntarily bound itself not to reimpose the death penalty," FLAG said.

During President Rodrigo Duterte's fourth State of the Nation Address, he urged the Congress to reimpose death penalty for crimes related to drugs and plunder.

Four lawmakers have filed death penalty bills in the Senate. —NB, GMA News