Catholic school in Pampanga to press on against death penalty

Official Logo of Assumpta Technical High School in San Simon, Pampanga

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — A Catholic school in Pampanga is pressing on with its advocacy against the restoration of the death penalty despite the bill’s passage in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Cristina Manlapaz, the assistant director for pastoral affairs of the Assumpta Technical High School in San Simon town in Pampanga, said the school’s stand against the death penalty has been rooted in the Catholic doctrine, which has been the foundation of its faith-based education.

Manlapaz said the value and importance of human life as a topic has long been integrated in the school’s curriculum.

The school is operated by the Religious of the Assumption, which supports the Catholics Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ position against the return of the death penalty.

As many as 200 Grade 11 students and 102 faculty members of the Assumpta Technical High School  held on Wednesday (March 8) a noise barrage to protest the House of Representatives’ approval of a measure reinstating the death penalty.

The “Noise for Life” was staged at noon, following a prayer and candlelighting ceremony on Tuesday (March 7), said Manlapaz.

Death sentences were suspended during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was a graduate of the Assumption College.

On the same day in Baguio City, a woman’s group expressed their objections to the death penalty measure passed by a big majority of the House of Representatives.

The group Innabuyog said convicting a criminal to death would not address the absence of peace in communities, partly caused by a flawed justice system.  SFM/rga