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Senators are now moving to rewrite outdated provisions in the RPC – a move expected to benefit mostly poor persons subjected to what is deemed cruel and unusual punishment.
The Senate committee on constitutional amendments, revisions of codes and laws conducted its first and only public hearing on the proposed amendments to the RPC yesterday, the report of which would be presented in plenary within the month.
“Even the finest pieces of legislation are rendered obsolete by the passage of time. In this case, 80 years. Today, beyond obsolescence, the RPC may even be attacked as inflicting cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment, which is, as we all know, in violation of our Bill of Rights, Section 19, Article 3 of our Constitution,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon, head of the committee.
“For is it not clearly cruel, degrading and inhuman to imprison for 12 years and 1 day to 20 years one who is found guilty of robbery in a public building, such as the Senate, or a church, where the value of the property is only P251. Isn’t that cruel?” he added.
Drilon also said that due to the outdated provisions of the RPC, a significant number of people in prison were convicted of petty crimes or property-related crimes such as theft.
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