House of Representatives in session. (Photo by JOAN BONDOC/INQUIRER)
SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna — A Catholic church official in Laguna has expressed his disappointment after all five congressional representatives from the province approved the passage of the death penalty.
“To say the least, we’re so disappointed that all the Laguna lawmakers…voted to restore death penalty. This in spite of the massive campaign that we have launched, (among them the) personal letters sent by (Laguna) Bishop Ben (Famadico) to each of them,” said Monsignor Jerry Bitoon of the Diocese of San Pablo.
The five congressmen representing the four Laguna districts are Arlene Nazareno, Joaquin Chipeco Jr., Sol Aragones, and Benjamin Agarao Jr., while Marlyn Naguiat represents the lone district of Biñan. Except for Aragones, who is a member of the United Nationalist Alliance, the rest ran under the Liberal Party in 2016.
Laguna once witnessed massive protests against the capital punishment when domestic worker Flor Contemplacion from San Pablo City was hanged in Singapore in 1995. Contemplacion was executed for the killing of another Filipino maid Delia Maga and her five-year-old Singaporean ward Nicholas Huang.
Bitoon, on Wednesday, said they started campaigning against the restoration of the death penalty weeks before Christmas last year. “We took opportunity of the unusual increase of church-goers to launch an awareness campaign among our faithful concerning this important moral issue. We encouraged our priests to transform their homilies into catechism on the inviolable value and dignity of life,” he said.
The Diocese also launched signature campaigns, encouraged the lawmakers through text messages to vote against the bill, and posted tarpaulins on the facades of 86 parish churches and 500 Catholic chapels in Laguna. SFM/rga