Philippine Bishops criticise the President on death penalty issue
Manila (AsiaNews) - Filipino Catholic bishops are restating their firm stance against capital punishment as news arrived of the president Arroyo’s ending of a moratorium on capital punishment. The news has triggered spirited moral debate among the country’s ecclesial leaders when only a few months ago the president was received by the pope in the Vatican, where she reiterated her position against capital punishment and promise to abide by moral principles.
“We do not believe it will deter crime unless there is a general breakdown of law and order,” said archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao and president of the Filipino Bishops Conference in a statement issued on Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lifted the freeze on the death penalty last Friday after occurrences of kidnap-for-ransom activities have drastically risen in recent months.
“As much as I am averse to the taking of human lives, as a matter of principle, the President must yield to the higher public interest when dictated by extraordinary circumstances,” she said. She added that she would not oppose prisoner executions scheduled for the end of January.
Two men are scheduled for execution by lethal injection on Jan. 30, said Dionisio Santiago, warden ofthe State Bureau of Corrections. According to the president’s spokesperson, currently on death row there are 25 criminals guilty of kidnappings and drug-related crimes.The Philippines is said to be the Asia’s kidnapping capital, with an average of one abduction occurring every three days. This year alone there have been over 158 incidents reported. However, some remain unreported for fear of retaliation by kidnappers on the victim’s families.Rodolfo Diamante, executive secretary for the Filipino Bishops Conference’s Commission on Prison Pastoral Care, believes that the president was pressured into lifting the ban in order to appease the country’s Chinese community, whose members have been gravely affected as victims of kidnapping incidents in Manila.
Diamante said that the president’s move is purely political while “succumbing to pressure from a group from which she needs assistance.”Archbishop Capalla added that “as citizens of this country, we respect the president’s right andprerogative to protect public order as well as the right to change her mind.”Capalla further said that the Filipino Bishops’ Conference is a separate institution from the government and that “the Roman Catholic Church must claim and uphold her right and freedom to speak on moral issues while respecting the rights and freedom of the state government or of anyone dissenting or disagreeing with her.”“For this reason I wish to reiterate that, with regard to the present government, our position is one of collaborative criticism,” said Capalla. (SE)
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