66 2020 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines 231 In August, the House of Representatives conducted hearings on the death penalty. Congressman Ruffy Biazon asked the Committee on Justice to exclude his death penalty bill from the agenda because the discussion on the matter is an “unnecessary distraction” in this pandemic. In reiterating its stand against the death penalty, the presented the arguments on why the Philippines should not reintroduce capital punishment. The CHR maintains that there is no compelling reason to reintroduce the death penalty as it is an ineffective deterrent to crime. There will be repercussions should the death penalty be reinstated. 232 With the international treaties that we have signed, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Second Optional Protocol aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty, the reinstatement of the death penalty will amount to a serious breach in international law which will not only affect our economy, but also our dealings with international community. 233 Difficulties include enforcing extradition treaties with transnational organized crimes, most especially drug trafficking. Death Penalty will create significant barriers to international law enforcement mechanisms such as extradition, mutual legal assistance and agency-toagency cooperation, particularly for those countries. This may cause the withdrawal of the benefits the Philippines enjoys under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus, which is a trade agreement that it has signed with the European Union. Under this scheme, selected Philippine products that are exported to the EU will enjoy a zero tariff benefit. Previous reports of the assessment of the GSP+ has stated that re-introduction of the death penalty would be a major step backwards and raise questions regarding the Philippines’ international commitments. The EU reiterated this in the most recent assessment released in February 2020.