Protestant churches back death penalty

With the forthcoming repeal of the death penalty law, the country’s Protestant churches reaffirmed yesterday their support for the implementation of capital punishment.

The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) issued a statement maintaining its position of 1999, espousing the value of "retribution" for crimes.

PCEC national director Evangelical Bishop Efraim Tendero said the imposition of capital punishment has biblical justification.

The PCEC believes that the Bible authorizes the practice of capital punishment for heinous crimes: "Whoever sheds the blood of human by a human shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind." (Genesis 9:6)

The church group, however, clarified the death penalty should only be imposed for a "short list of capital crimes" which must be commensurate to the gravity of the offense committed.

"The massacre of civilians must be punishable by death. Capital crimes, or those that led to loss of other lives, deserve capital punishment. A man who takes away the life of another forfeits his own," the PCEC stressed in a three-page statement.

The PCEC issued its statement supporting the death penalty in stark contrast to the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church has been vehemently opposed to the imposition of capital punishment, arguing that each person’s life has value.

Although Protestants agree with the Catholic Church’s reverence for life, Tendero explained the difference lies between what is considered the biological and the spiritual life of a person.

"We are concerned that biological life can be overhauled to the detriment of spiritual life. When the Apostle John wrote about life in the Son, he wrote about eternal spiritual life," Tendero said.

The PCEC believes the government should not abolish the death penalty law and instead should make improvements in the justice system.

"Let the law be applied equally to all without discrimination. Let the President exercise (her) prerogative of commuting sentences or granting a pardon or acts of mercy," Tendero said.

The PCEC said the President should also make it clear that she is not making a judicial review of what the Supreme Court has already decided with finality.

The group noted the Senate approved the bill repealing the death penalty law and impose life imprisonment instead as the harshest punishment.

The bill has been certified as urgent by President Arroyo, a devout Catholic, after she commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment last Easter Sunday.

The repeal of the death penalty law is one of the few measures supported by lawmakers from both sides of the political fence.

Among them is Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. who said the death penalty law has failed to deter criminality.

He described the death penalty as the cruelest punishment that could be imposed by the state because it takes away life.

Pimentel pointed out that only a handful of nations are still implementing the death penalty and that the Philippines should align itself with anti-death penalty proponents all over the world.