“The string of serious, grave, and violent crimes that leads back to the doorstep of the PNP organization now calibrates the need to erect or rebuild the rule of law in this country. It may as much as require lifting the moratorium on the death penalty, if and only if, this disturbing culture of violence that appears to license even acts or offenses committed by supposed-to-be persons of authority must be stopped”, Castelo strongly pointed out.
In particular, QC Rep. Winnie Castelo calls for the inclusion of carjacking as one of heinous crimes. Apparently, pressing societal concerns deserve prompt and appropriate legislative action that it becomes expedient upon Congress to respond to the emergencies of our times where an upsurge of crimes already put the lives and properties of every citizen in clear and imminent danger. “It is time to place the right tag to carjacking as justifiably heinous in terms of the consequences to their victims”, Castelo explained.
The QC solon thinks that there is a problem of this domino effect in our criminal justice system. In fact, according to him, it is crystal clear that the PNP itself must be overhauled. “When personnel and officers of the PNP do not know how to shoot as an average marksman, when only 20% of police investigators have been formally trained in their line of work, when they have become the criminals themselves or the prime protectorate of criminal groups, when police impunity generally spawned the rise of vigilante groups – all these necessarily provide the wrong platform in our overall criminal justice system”, Castelo stressed.
Apparently, carjacking activities of organized crime syndicates pushed the panic button. No less than Congress itself will soon debate whether or not to re-impose the death penalty with the end in view of somehow addressing this present-day development. “In my view, these high-profile crimes, like carjacking and murders that indicatively prove the incompetence and failure of the PNP to stand up to the challenge simply necessitates that a new law must take its course. After all, there is a valid historical precedent that can be followed which supports a death penalty law”, the member of the House Committee on Justice said.
In an earlier call, Castelo in fact moved to overhaul PNP’s recruitment system and vehemently opposed its three strike policy as the single worst impediment to the expeditious dispensation of justice. Indeed, it is high time to add carjacking to the short list of heinous crimes since its inclusion and classification reflect the firm resolve of lawmakers to address this emerging crime scare. 30
