Palma: Respect life; no to death penalty

How much do we respect life? How much do we want to defend the right of innocent people (who are wrongly accused of doing something bad)? Do we give a chance to those who committed crimes and yet they want to reform their lives?”

This string of fundamental questions comes from the leader of the Catholic Church in Cebu, Archbishop Jose Palma as the debate on whether or not to bring back the death penalty under a Duterte presidency rages on.

Palma admitted that the issue on reviving the death penalty in the country will divide Filipinos who have different views on the matter.

But just the same, Catholics bishops, he said, intend to reach out to presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte to give their insights about his plans on capital punishment.

“Time and again, we make our sentiments heard. All of us — the Church, overseas Filipino workers, farmers, students, military and the others — have the right to make the president know what is good for us. And that is the beauty of democracy,” Palma said.

In a talk with reporters yesterday, Palma expressed hopes that Duterte will reconsider his plans to revive the death penalty which was abolished by Congress at the time of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in June 2006 through Republic Act 9346.

When the death penalty was abolished by Arroyo, Palma said, Catholic Church leaders were very happy.

“The Church feels that in a growing society, the abolition of death penalty is a sign that we have understood better the gift of life and even the meaning of punishment,” he said.

“For those who espouse death penalty, they think this is the best way to deter crimes. Perhaps it may. But data also show that in places where death penalty is imposed, crimes still exist,” said the 66-year-old prelate.

“Of course, the issue at hand would spur debates. But as a Church leader, I would abide by the teachings of the Catholic Church and hope our government won’t revive the death penalty,” Palma explained.

For Palma, the best way to reduce the crime rate is still for government to implement its laws and strengthen the justice system.

“Is death penalty the only way to deter crime?” he asked.

Between 1946 and 1965, under President Ferdinand Marcos, 35 people convicted of savage crimes were executed.

After the EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled the dictator from power, then-president Corazon Aquino promulgated the 1987 Constitution and abolished the death penalty “unless for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, Congress hereafter provides for it.”

In March 1996, under president Fidel V. Ramos, the law, through RA 8177, was amended prescribing death by lethal injection for offenders convicted of heinous crimes.

Between 1999 and 2000, during the term of president Joseph Estrada, seven inmates were put to death, one for raping his daughter more than a 100 times over two years starting when she was 16.

President Arroyo moved to abolish the death penalty in 2006, explaining that death penalty had not proven to be a deterrent to crime.

Today, amid lingering calls to suppress criminality in a presumptive Duterte presidency, the fate of capital punishment hangs in the balance.