A network of Catholic lay organizations pointed out that death penalty is not necessary and this is no time to be wearing “blinders.”
In a statement, the Council of the Laity of the Philippines urged lawmakers to consider the risks of capital punishment, which they said, outweigh any justification.
“We urge you to remove the blinders that prevent you from seeing that death penalty is an offense ‘against the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person,’” said Laiko President Rouquel Ponte.
He said it is about time lawmakers see beyond the call of President Duterte to reinstate the death penalty and treat the issue from a wide perspective.
According to him, its reimposition will single out for punishment the most vulnerable sectors of society who have no means to defend themselves.
He also warned the country’s failure to honor its commitment with the international community not to bring back death penalty “will not only put us in bad light but lose their respect as well.”
“We lament and decry the actuations of our elected lawmakers in calling back from its grave the death penalty proposals,” Ponte said.
Instead of directing their attention on efforts to revive death penalty, he called on the lawmakers to focus on how to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
He added that it will also be better if lawmakers will ensure the speedy enactment of laws that will reform the country’s judicial and correctional systems.
“We would rather that you also focus your attention on how to stop the flagrant reality of graft and corruption,” Ponte also said.
PHL bishops explain opposition to death penalty
The bishops of the Philippines once again voiced their “strong opposition” to the reintroduction of capital punishment in the nation.
The death penalty was a legal punishment in the Philippines for much of the country’s history. After the fall of the Ferdinand Marcos regime in the 1980s, a moratorium on capital punishment was imposed, but executions resumed in 1999. The practice was outlawed in 2006.
Current President, Duterte, has campaigned for the restoration of the death penalty, and polls suggest many Filipinos support his position. Several bills have been revived in the Senate seeking to restore capital punishment.
In a statement issued last week by the Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP-ECPPC), the bishops argued that “the death penalty violates the inherent dignity of a person, which is not lost despite the commission of a crime.”
They cited Pope Francis, who has said: “Capital punishment is an offense ‘against the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, which contradicts God’s plan for man and society’ and ‘does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters vengeance.’”
They pointed out that the death sentence is irrevocable, thus, it leaves no possibility for correcting errors that could occur in an imperfect justice system.
For the same reason, it does not give the offender an opportunity to change.
“True justice is restorative,” they said, “never merely punitive.” Punishment should offer the opportunity for amendment.
Further, they argued that capital punishment is unfairly applied to “the most vulnerable sectors of society, the marginalized and the poor.”
The bishops also noted that the Philippines has made international commitments not to reimpose the death penalty.
“Reviving it,” they said, “will go against this commitment and will put our country in a bad light insofar as our standing in the community of nations is concerned.”
Instead of attempting to restore the death penalty, the bishops called on Congress to focus its attention on working out a comprehensive response to the Covid-19 pandemic; to reforming the judicial and correctional systems; and to stamp out corruption in the various correctional institutions.
“Trusting in the help of our merciful God,” the bishops wrote, “we at the CBCP-ECPPC are ready to dialogue with our legislators to explore with them ways and means to improve our criminal justice system and our ways of treating PDLs [persons deprived of liberty].”
They said: “Together let us stand for life and heal as one!”
CBCP News and Vatican News
Image credits: Vatican News
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