MANILA - For several lawmakers at the House of Representatives, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is risking his speakership and the unity of the supermajority by threatening majority members who are against the death penalty with expulsion from leadership positions and encouraging them to get out of the ruling PDP-Laban.

• READ: Deputy speakers who oppose death penalty to be replaced: Alvarez

The House leadership is now circling the wagons around the death penalty bill, with Alvarez saying that deputy speakers and committee chairmen against the measure will be replaced in their leadership positions.

"Yes, pagka deputy speaker, pangit naman na di ka sang-ayon sa administration-sponsored bill at pag chairman ka ng committees. Papalitan namin...Deputy speakers na di sasama doon sa administration bill, papalitan natin kasi awkward na deputy speaker ka. Papalitan din," Alvarez said.

Buhay Party List Rep. Lito Atienza, a pro-life advocate, pointed out that Alvarez was the only PDP-Laban member when the 17th Congress began.

"Nakikita namin kapag ginamit niya yung kapangyarihan ng speakership…remember the issue of death penalty is a matter of principle…Kapag pinilit mo yan, sa aking nakita sa nakaraan magkakaroon ng long-range impact yan,” Atienza said.

“How many times will he be able to do that as speaker? I think he has forgotten when he came to Congress mag-isa lang siya dito. He was the lone PDP. From there, you can see they don’t have an ideology that binds them together. This is a supermajority of convenience. Kapag prinsipyo na pinipilit mo, I still believe many of them will not follow that kind of arm twisting."

Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque, for his part, warned the administration against insisting on reviving the death penalty bill as it will just drive support for the opposition.

"Though I am in minority, I support the same president as you know… ang sinabi ko lang po this is not the right time to discuss death penalty because it is very divisive. It gives the enemies of this administration the traction that they need para makakuha ng mas malawak na suporta sa kamara,” Roque said.

Deputy Speaker Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo has already stated she is going to vote against the death penalty. It was Arroyo's administration that repealed the death penalty in 2006.

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said, "If the Speaker does that, he risks losing the support of the political parties comprising the super coalition."

"Most of the parties have adopted a policy of conscience vote. But if the Speaker insists, then he wants Congress to become a authoritarian body not a democratic one," he added.

INTERNATIONAL PACT

Roque, a lawyer, also said that the bill, if it becomes law, will be struck down by the Supreme Court because it violates the country’s international obligations.

The Philippines is a signatory to the 2nd Option Protocol to the International Covention on Civil and Political Rights which bars the imposition of the death penalty.

Alvarez has dismissed criticism that reimposing the death penalty will violate the international treaty.

He said the Philippine Constitution allows the re-imposition of the death penalty. That argument has been used in the Senate to torpedo the bill.

"Alam nating lahat, nag-aral ako ng law, ang tinuro to amend the Constitution, tatlong paraan lang po--yung constitutional convention, constituent assembly, at people's initiative," he said.

"Di nakalagay na kasama ang treaties sa pag-amyenda ng Constitution. I don't agree with that opinion. Kahit na anong treaty yun, it cannot amend the Constitution na nagsasabi na pwede ang death penalty dito sa Pilipinas," he added.