CBCP asks GMA to revive moratorium on death penalty

Catholic bishops renewed their call yesterday for President Arroyo to restore a suspension of the Death Penalty Law.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (CBCP-ECPPC) is expecting an audience with Mrs. Arroyo, who has revived the Death Penalty Law to curb kidnapping and other heinous crimes.

In observance of World Day Against Death Penalty on Oct. 10, the suspension of the law could be the best compromise while issues involving capital punishment are resolved, the CBCP-ECPPC added.

Rodolfo Diamante, CBCP-ECPPC executive director said although no convict has been executed since 2001, the government’s policy on issuing reprieves "gives unnecessary anxiety" to the convicts and their families.

"This is causing what we call ‘death row syndrome’ among the convicts," he said. "Yung iba gusto na lang matuluyan nang mamatay dahil mas matindi pa daw yung takot at hirap ng pamilya sa paulit-ulit na pagsabing bibitayin na sila (Others would rather die because their families fear more intensely the repeated news that they would be executed)," he told reporters yesterday.

Diamante, who led a motorcade of anti-death penalty advocates yesterday, also reiterated his group’s arguments against the imposition of capital punishment in the country.

"We believe that the cry for retribution need not entail the killing of the person," he said. "While the killing may satisfy vindictive desires, such satisfaction cannot be the objective of a humane and Christian approach to punishment."

Diamante said existing laws do not consider the convicted criminals as "victims of the unpunished crimes" of other people, apparently referring to "convicts who committed murder under the influence of drugs, and hired killers who were victims of poverty and persons who hired them."

"It is about time to develop a philosophy of punishment that will move from punishment to reconciliation, vengeance to healing, alienation to harshness to community wholeness, negativity and destructiveness to forgiveness and mercy," he said.

Diamante said they would go to Congress today and tomorrow, along with the Coalition Against Death Penalty to lobby for the repeal of the Death Penalty Law.

Various activities have been set this week to intensify this campaign, he added.

Diamante said that on Oct. 10 hundreds of anti-death penalty advocates will gather at the Palace of the Rock in St. Peter Parish in Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.

A bill seeking to repeal the Death Penalty Law, sponsored by Sijuijor Rep. Orlando Fua Jr., is now being discussed at the plenary of the House of Representatives, he added.

Some 120 of the 235 lawmakers have expressed support for the bill, and 86 have already signed it, the CBCP-ECPPC said.

President Arroyo lifted the suspension on executions in December 2003 to combat rising criminality, specifically kidnapping.

Two convicted kidnappers were scheduled for lethal injection at the National Penitentiary in January 2004, but both were saved at the last minute after the Supreme Court granted a reopening of their cases.

Since then, Mrs. Arroyo has suspended all executions by granting a continual 90-day reprieve on all death sentences.

There are more than 2,300 convicts lined up for execution in both National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City and the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.

The High Tribunal has affirmed the executions of 315 of them.