Philippine bishop praises legislation to end death penalty

Published: 2006-06-08

MANILA, Philippines (CNS) -- The head of the Philippine bishops' commission for prison pastoral care has commended the Senate and the House of Representatives for passing separate bills that would end the death penalty. "We congratulate ourselves as a people and a nation," Bishop Pedro Arigo of Puerto Princesa said June 7 in a statement released by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. The bishop said the move showed unity for the cause of human life. Voting 16-0 with one abstention June 6, the Senate approved a bill that would abolish the death penalty and bar parole for convicts sentenced to life imprisonment, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Later in the day, the House of Representatives voted 119-20, with one abstention, to approve a bill that stipulates life imprisonment as the harshest punishment for criminals. Legislators from the two chambers now must reconcile the two bills into a single piece of legislation to be signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

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