BY LESLIE ANN G. AQUINO
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (CBCP ECPPC) on Tuesday rejected the revival of death penalty in the country, saying true justice is “restorative never punitive.”
“With the death penalty justice is nothing but punishment, and never a way to reform the offender. But true justice is restorative never punitive,” Legazpi Bishop Joel Baylon, ECPPC chairman, said in an interview.
He said capital punishment, in whatever form it comes, is never a deterrent to crime as proven by studies.
Instead of reviving death penalty, Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos said the country should reform its justice system.
“What we must do is to reform our justice system that no one is above the law. There is no selective justice, no sacred cow too,” he said.
The vice chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People is also concerned that the country will lose its “moral authority” to beg for the life of imprisoned overseas Filipino workers.
“How can we appeal to a foreign country for our co-national sentenced to death penalty for life commutation or amnesty if we practice death penalty? With death penalty we lose moral authority and credibility to beg for life, to save lives of our imprisoned OFWs,” said Santos.
Besides, he said, since we owe our life to God, only He can take it.
