CBCP seeks prayers as death penalty in Senate

THE CATHOLIC Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Sunday called on prayers from the faithful as the controversial death penalty bill reaches the Senate.

In a pastoral statement released yesterday, the CBCP said: “Let us pray fervently for the legislators of the country as they prepare to vote on death penalty in the Philippine Senate. Let us offer all our Masses for them, asking our Crucified Lord who offered his whole life, body and blood, for the salvation of sinners, to touch their consciences and lead them to abolish capital punishment once and for all.”

The said letter was read in masses across the country yesterday. The CBCP further rallied its flock to “not allow our wells to be poisoned by bitter water; let us uphold the sanctity of life and make a stand against death penalty.”

House Bill 4727, or An Act Imposing the Death Penalty on Certain Heinous Crimes, was approved by the House of Representatives on March 7. Listed under crimes punishable by death — through hanging, musketry, and lethal injection — are drug-related offenses, including importation, sale, trading, administration, and manufacturing of drugs, and maintenance of a drug den.

The CBCP pointed out the “irony” of the House vote being on the eve of Ash Wednesday: “[T]hey were captured on television shouting in favor of death with their foreheads marked with crosses made of ashes.”

“Could they have forgotten what that cross meant? Could they have missed out the contradiction between their vote and the crosses on their foreheads, which were supposed to serve as a loud statement of faith in the God who, for the love of us, chose to give up his life for our salvation, rather than see us perish?” the CBCP added.

“We are not deaf to the cries of the victims of heinous crimes. The victims and their victimizers are both our brothers and sisters. The victim and the [ oppressor] are both children of God. To the guilty we offer a challenge to repent and repair the harm of their sins. To the grieving victims, we offer our love, our compassion, our hope,” the CBCP also said.

The CBCP also noted it has not been determined that capital punishment deters crime, adding, “Obviously it is easier to eliminate criminals than to get rid of the root causes of criminality in society.”

Reviving the death penalty is one of the election-campaign promises of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, who was catapulted to the presidency with his vow to eradicate drugs, criminality, and corruption in the country.

On March 15, just as the Congress went on its break, the House majority removed the committee positions of congressmen who voted against the death penalty.

The CBCP said it will also send letters to senators starting this week, appealing to them to “consider rejecting the reinstatement of capital punishment in our country.”

The Senate will resume its regular session on May 2.