The death penalty can be an effective deterrent to crime if there's an effective system running it. It should be treated as a missile. It doesn't matter how effective the missile is but the wrong guiding system can cause the missile to hit the unintended targets. Unfortunately, the current Philippine system is riddled in corruption because of the system and not just the people which makes nearly every objection towards the death penalty right now valid. The classic argument that the death penalty may end up executing innocent people by mistake is a valid argument. That's something that can be common in the Philippines due to easily bribable government functions and incompetence in criminal investigations.
Do you remember the time when the late Leo Echegaray who was a POOR CRIMINAL got executed? Sure, poor criminals aren't exempt from justice but what about rich criminals? The execution of Echegaray is nothing compared to if rich criminals or even corrupt politicians were executed as well. It would be way more fearful to commit a crime if powerful criminals were executed first before poor criminals. However, the Philippines having a long history of bribery that will just make the death penalty ineffective. How can the death penalty be a crime deterrent if people can just be easily paid off? Worse, it can also get innocent people executed. Hubert Webb who was wrongly accused of the Vizconde Massacre crime nearly got executed by mistake and wasted 15 years of his life. Some opponents of the death penalty do have a valid concern about wrongful executions -- it does serve as a good reason on their side!
Learning how to carry out the death penalty is necessary before reimplementing it. Singapore is effective in carrying out the death penalty because of its hard-to-bribe system. Singapore may not be perfect but they do carry out justice accordingly. Remember that the late Flor Contemplacion had the right to a fair trial for three years prior to her sentence. China itself may not be very good in the corruption index but it has lower corruption than the Philippines for this reason -- they execute corrupt officials such as the late Zheng Xiaoyu who was responsible for the melamine scandal outbreak. The three Filipino drug mules that were executed in China proved that they had a very strict standard against drug dealers -- it's no wonder why illegal Chinese involved in drugs end up moving to the Philippines. China had more than a year of investigation before the three Filipino drug mules got what they deserved.
What I think the Philippine legislators need to do BEFORE reinstating the death penalty is to prepare the necessary countermeasures to prevent the wrong people from getting executed. People who commit perjury should spend very long periods of time in jail or even get the death penalty depending on the weight of the false accusation. If they have lied in court and nearly put an innocent person to death -- the person should be charged with frustrated murder for misusing the courts for his or her own personal gain. Publication companies that commit such heavy false accusations should get their license revoked. Lawyers who work only for the money regardless also need to get de-barred as well. These are issues that need to be addressed before reinstating the death penalty.
Studies show that the death penalty is not effective in reducing crime. In Texas where many criminals get executed crime isn't lower than Massachussetts where death penalty was aboulished decades ago. even in US mostly poor are executed, almost no rich people.
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