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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider CBCP on death penalty: It's 'anti-poor and [the] marginalized'

CBCP on death penalty: It's 'anti-poor and [the] marginalized'

Published Oct 10, 2020 04:10 pm

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) reiterated its opposition to the death penalty, saying that such a punishment has not been proven to stop people from committing crimes.

“The death penalty does not deter crime. There are no conclusive studies, local or foreign, to support this argument,” said CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care Chairman Bishop Joel Baylon. 

Baylon made the statement in observance of the World Day Against the Death Penalty on Saturday, Oct. 10. 

“Pope Francis has exhorted countless times that capital punishment is an offense ‘against the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, which contradicts God’s plan for man and society and does not render justice to the victims, but rather only fosters vengeance,’” said  Baylon. 

“In his latest encyclical Fratelli Tutti he said, ‘the death penalty is inadequate from a moral standpoint and no longer necessary from that of penal justice that there can be no stepping back from this position as he clearly stated that the death penalty is inadmissible, and the Church is firmly committed to calling for its abolition worldwide,” he added.

The prelate said capital punishment “violates the inherent dignity of a human person, which is not lost despite the commission of a crime.”

“No person, no matter how evil he is perceived to be, is beyond reformation,” he said. 

“The death sentence is irreversible; once carried out, there is no possibility for rectifying an erroneous judgment by an imperfect system,” he added.

Baylon also said that death penalty is nothing but vengeance and punishment. 

“True justice must be restorative, never merely punitive. It should give the person the chance to change for the better, no matter how slim the chance may be,” he said. 

Lastly, the prelate underscored that such punishment is “anti-poor and marginalized.”

READ MORE: Mostly the poor face death penalty — CHR

“Experience shows that most, if not all persons meted the death penalty are poor and uneducated, who cannot afford quality legal representation to defend them,” said Baylon. 

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