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MANILA -- President Rodrigo Duterte should expect a "fair fight" in his effort to convince lawmakers to restore the death penalty, an opposition senator said Wednesday.

The President renewed his call for capital punishment during his State of the Nation Address on Monday, as the 18th Congress opened with more of his allies elected to Senate.

"It's going to be a fair fight. Hindi pwedeng confident si Presidente na porket sinabi nila 'yun sa State of the Nation Address makukuha na niya," Risa Hontiveros said in an interview on ANC's Headstart.

(The President can't be too confident that just because he mentioned it in his State of the Nation Address, he'll get it.)

The death penalty bill failed to pass the Senate in the 17th Congress despite getting approval at the House of Representatives.

• With supermajority in Congress, Duterte renews pitch to revive death penalty

Hontiveros said the Senate suspended the hearings into the death penalty bill two years ago because of unanswered questions.

Strengthening the criminal justice system and not the revival of the death penalty deters crime, she said.

• Poe: Duterte push for death penalty may pass in Senate