Anti-death penalty march not anti-Duterte – CBCP

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) clarified yesterday that the mobilization at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila was a stand against death penalty and not against President Duterte.

“This is not anti-Digong

(Duterte) or anything. This is a stand against death penalty,” said Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of the CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action Justice and Peace, one of the organizers of the anti-death penalty march-caravan “Lakbay Buhay.”

“The gathering was simply a call to the country’s leaders not to support the revival of capital punishment in the country,” he added.

A simple program and Eucharistic celebration was held Sunday at UST for Lakbay Buhay.

“The intention of the mobilization is to really bring the message to the senators that they need not support death penalty,” he added.

Among those who attended the gathering at UST are Liberal Party senators Risa Hontiveros, Sonny Trillanes, Bam Aquino and a representative of Leila de Lima.

During his speech, Trillanes vowed to fight death penalty in the senate. He also took a swipe at the extrajudicial killings in the country.

For his part, Aquino asked those present not to just focus on convincing senators not to support death penalty but to also convince others who are pro capital punishment.

A bill reviving the death penalty was passed by the House of Representatives in March with Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon saying that the measure is already “dead” in the Senate with 13 members already committed to vote against it.

Gariguez explained that the event is open to everyone against death penalty regardless of their political affiliation.

“It’s only accidental that Liberal Party (LP) senators are supporting it (anti death penalty stance) but there is no political alignment here. As much as possible, we would like to get the support of as many senators as possible. This is regardless of party affiliation. I hope people won’t put political color into this,” he said.

The CBCP official said they are happy that some of the lawmakers who previously supported the passage of the Reproductive Health bill are now one with them on the issue of death penalty such as Hontiveros.

Also present are representatives from the Commission on Human Rights.

“We brought this not just here in Manila but to Mindanao and Visayas to show that people are clamoring not to pass this bill. That’s the point of this pilgrimage – to show the groundswell of support of the people,” Gariguez said, adding that the caravan does not end at UST.

He said anti-death penalty advocates will still go to the Senate on May 24 to ask senators not to support the proposed measure to reinstate the death penalty.