Bishops preach against death penalty in Philippines

Philippine Catholic bishops fired back against efforts to restore the death penalty with a special prayer read at all masses on Sunday.

The church leaders of the country, which is about 80 percent Catholic, issued the special homily in response to an effort spearheaded by President Rodrigo Duterte to bring back capital punishment which was abolished in 2006.

“Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, let us not allow our wells to be poisoned by bitter water. Let us uphold the sanctity of life and make a stand against the death penalty,” the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines said in a statement.

The bishops argued that there was no evidence that capital punishment deterred crime, contrary to the arguments of Duterte allies.

They added that it was biased against the poor who could not afford good lawyers and that it was often used by oppressive regimes to silence dissenters, citing Jesus and the many Christian martyrs.

Duterte is campaigning to bring back capital punishment with hanging as his preferred mode of execution. Among his allies are boxing hero- turnedsenator Manny Pacquiao who quotes the Bible to justify capital punishment and the House of Representative which voted earlier this month to restore the death penalty.

Last week, Duterte’s ruling party stripped a dozen lawmakers of House leadership posts for voting against the death penalty.

The bill restoring the death penalty must still be passed by the Senate but Duterte’s allies also make up the majority in this chamber.