Enlightened stand on death penalty 

The Manila Times - Editorial

When President Estrada announced that he was commuting the death penalty of all the death row inmates, some 1500 convicts and pro-life Filipinos rejoiced.

As it turned out only 305 or so, whose death sentences are final and executory, would have their executions set aside by the President�s order. The others would still have to spend their nights worrying about their fate�unless a law were passed abolishing the death penalty altogether. For that purpose, President Estrada then announced that he was going to work for the repeal of the Death Penalty Law. President Estrada�s newfound zest for saving the lives of sentenced criminals has made him a hero to pro-life Filipinos. Even the two most prominent initiators of the Resign-Erap Movement�Cardinal Sin and former president Aquino�have publicly lauded the President for his about-face on the death penalty. He has dismayed some of his staunchest allies, however. PNP Director-General Panfilo Lacson and other top-echelon police officers have spoken out. Many rank and file policemen have also manifested their consternation to the media. Mr. Lacson, however, makes it clear that his is only a personal opinion �as a crime fighter.� He told reporters that as a law enforcer he wants people guilty of heinous crimes to get the maximum punishment.  Even DILG Secretary Alfredo Lim has told radio audiences that he has always favored the death penalty for heinous crime-doers. But of course, he too could not but defer to the President�s policy.  The most actively pro-life legislator, Senator Francisco Tatad, immediately moved to present a bill to repeal the Death Penalty Law. He has been trying to do just that for years now, but found the going hard. Now that the Palace itself has called for the repeal, Mr. Tatad�s and the pro-life movement�s cause is sure to win.  The Catholic Church hierarchy is, of course, the highest group of Filipino leaders opposed to the death penalty. A very important statement of the Catholic Bishops� Conference of the Philippines squarely positioned the hierarchy�and called on the whole Church to follow their lead�against the restoration of capital punishment in 1992.  Chronically anti-Estrada politicians, however, wrongly attack the President�s new higher level of respect for human life as nothing more than a pogi-point raising gimmick. They have also unjustly accused him of now turning against the death penalty because he himself could be sentenced to death if the impeachment court convicts him of the crime of plunder. Cardinal Sin and former president Aquino are more charitable. They welcome the President�s conversion in this matter as proof that everyone can reform. And Mrs. Aquino�while continuing to insist on President Estrada�s resignation or removal by the impeachment court�urges everybody not to take away from him �the chance to do good.� The fact is that this season of Advent 2000 President Estrada has transcended to a more enlightened stand on capital punishment in response to the unceasing prayers and petitions of church groups, bishops and pro-life Filipinos.�