MANILA - If you can't stop them, at least make them pay.
This, according to Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, should be the government's response to the
luxurious lifestyle of certain inmates at the national penitentiary.
"Several years ago, I recommended that we should follow the procedure in the United States where they are allowed not necessarily luxurious but at least improved circumstances of detention over those who are just treated in a regular manner," she told reporters on Wednesday.
"Then we can make them pay and give the money for government funds."
Calling the situation old news, Santiago said the discovery of some prisoners' luxurious lifestyle has been going on for a long time.
"If you cannot prevent it, then you must mitigate it," she said.
Santiago added that the Justice Department must reveal the identities of officials who have been protecting the system, saying the officials are criminally liable.
The senator does not agree, however, with renewed calls to bring back the death penalty.
On Tuesday, Senator Vicente Sotto III proposed that the death penalty be revived particularly for high-level drug traffickers like the ones who were found to be enjoying luxuries while in jail.
Santiago pointed out that the Philippines has international commitments to abolish death as a punishment for crimes.
"If we are about to make a U-turn here, we have to contend with the opposition of the European countries," she said. "Plus it will not sit well with the coming visit of the Pope of the Catholic Church, which has always been anti-capital punishment."
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
