MANILA — Rep. Kyhmer Adan Olaso, a congressman from Zamboanga City whose other bills are on the welfare of caregivers and of media workers, was in the spotlight this week for reviving the perennial and seemingly popular proposal to put to death government officials proven to be corrupt.

Speaking to TeleRadyo Serbisyo on Saturday morning, Olaso said the death penalty would be a “permanent solution” to corruption, adding it has to be done by firing squad because lethal injection — the method used when the Philippines last executed a convict — would be too quick.

“Hindi nila mararamdaman yung sakit eh (They would not feel the pain),” he said, arguing that that would be a deterrent and a wake-up call to politicians.

NOT THE FIRST OR ONLY TO PROPOSE IT AT HOUSE

Neither the proposal nor the proposed method of execution are new. At the House of the 19th Congress alone, there are at least five bills seeking a return of the death penalty for various crimes.

At least three seek the death penalty for plunder and one — filled by Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, a Baptist pastor and chair of the House rights committee — gives the choice of death by firing squad, hanging or lethal injection.

Putting the guilty to death will be a deterrent to crime, the bills all argue in their explanatory notes, with Abante adding God approves of the death penalty. Neither assertion is supported by scientific evidence.

The Commission on Human Rights has urged caution on the bill, saying corruption is a problem with "far-reaching and systemic consequences" that must be addressed by improving institutions and transparency and accountability mechanisms, as well as enforcement and prosecution.

"Such cruel punishment does not address the problem; instead, it obscures the need for systemic reforms and misdirects focus from preventative measures," it said this week.

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NOT ALLOWED BY THE CONSTITUTION

The CHR also said in 2016, when the House approved on final reading a bill imposing the death penalty for drug related-crimes, that the crime rate in the Philippines increased by 15.3 percent in the 1990s despite the reimposition of the death penalty.

It added then, and again this week, that the 1987 Constitution, the 2006 Act Prohibiting the Imposition of Death Penalty in the Philippines, and the country's commitment to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights bar the re-imposition of the death penalty.

Breaking its commitments to the ICCPR by reviving the death penalty would threaten the Philippines' reputation and could affect it in terms of foreign aid and in trade, Human Rights Watch researcher Carlos Conde told ABS-CBN News.

"[T]his will definitely have an impact on the Philippines if it wants, for example, to seek a seat at the Human Rights Council, the Security Council, or any UN body," he also said in an online exchange.

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FRUSTRATED FILIPINOS

Olaso on Saturday stressed that he is a Catholic and is not bloodthirsty but shares Filipinos' frustrations with corruption, insisting "if you will not put this [penalty], it won’t stop."

He said the Philippines should take a page from China, where, he said, the single-party state has eliminated corruption because "napakahigpit ng gobyerno nila (their government is so strict)."

He said that while the bill, if passed into law, will cover government officials down to the barangay level, will need to make an example of high-ranking officials to work.

"Kung hindi ka gagawa ng kasalanan, hindi ka mamamatay (If you do not commit a crime, then you will not be killed)," he added, reminiscent of the Duterte administration's stance on its campaigns against drugs and crime, and an assertion that has been questioned at the House and at the International Criminal Court.

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Although not necessarily indicative of public opinion, comments on social media suggest some degree of support for Olaso’s proposal.

Dr. Anthony Lawrence Borja, who has a PhD in Public Administration from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, called this "a manifestation of both sustained discontent over corruption tied with a ruthless sense of pragmatism."

Borja, an associate professor at De La Salle University's Department of Political Science and Development Studies, noted that these sentiments "also fed support for [Rodrigo Duterte's] drug war and other brutal anti-crime policies from other politicians."

He said that while Filipinos may consider corruption something that is a given, it still affects them enough to "throw their support behind such shortcuts."

Conde said apparent public support may be because “the easy-fix solutions, the shortcuts, are far less complicated” than the work needed to address corruption in government.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

"It’s going to be long-term," Conde, a former journalist, said when asked how the Philippines can address corruption.

"Fix the justice system. Make sure that anti-corruption agencies and mechanisms are functioning and well-resourced and free from political pressure and influence," he said.

"CSOs and media also need to expose more corruption so the public knows exactly how bad the problem is," he also suggested.

The CHR meanwhile said that government should focus on the strict implementation of anti-corruption laws, increasing scrutiny of officials' finances and pushing full disclosure policies.

The Philippines does not have a Freedom of Information law and an FOI policy covering the executive branch is subject to numerous exceptions.

"These measures, coupled with vigilant monitoring and public participation, can build a culture of integrity and accountability in governance," it said.

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Borja said the long-term solution to government corruption would require institutional reforms to help prosecute and punish graft and corruption as well as "ethical, cultural, and labor reforms" to deter public servants from engaging in graft and corruption.

"Should it include the death penalty? To be honest, I could not remove it from the picture as long as Filipinos hold a level of bloodlust towards such issues tied with the government’s need for legitimation," he said.