Bacolod bishop on Duterte push for death penalty: ‘We’re retrogressing’

BACOLOD CITY- Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon on Monday expressed dismay at President Rodrigo Duterte’s push to restore the death penalty for drug-related crimes to combat what the President had admitted was a narcotics problem that he has failed to solve so far and for plunder because corruption continued to fester.

“I find that we are again retrogressing. I thought that we were already moving towards a more humane civilization and society. It’s sad”, Buzon said.

“Our stand is very clear . Even in the Church, we have already grown in maturity about understanding that issue. It’s sad. I think we are moving backwards,” he said.

In his fourth State of the Nation Address, Duterte listed the restoration of death penalty on the top of his wish list for Congress. Capital punishment, Duterte said, should also cover plunder. He made the statement in the presence of Joseph Estrada, the only Philippine ruler so far convicted of plunder and sentenced to life in prison. He was pardoned by his successor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who herself was sent to jail for but acquitted of a plunder charge./TSB