Compassion for death convicts before execution

The death penalty, as espoused by President Duterte, got the nod of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives (“House committee OKs death penalty,” News, 12/8/16) and it is now the turn of the Senate to either approve or reject it.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has expressed its disapproval of the death penalty; so have other human rights groups. With the President’s men in the Senate in full support of the death penalty, chances are that the Senate will approve it, too. As a nation adhering to democratic and Christian principles, I am sure our people are divided on the death penalty issue.

President Duterte has been clear about it. It’s the death penalty for people who committed heinous crimes—a kind of retribution. There are crimes too inhuman, (a young student stabbed to death 39 times during a robbery in a vacant alley; a young girl raped and killed) that we cannot help but wish death upon the offenders.

In the Bible, we read about how God’s divine wrath hit hard on evildoers (e.g., a great flood, rain of fire). But God did not mete out His punishments without first warning people through His prophets. And those who listened were saved. Here, it is clear that God hates sin but has compassion for the sinners, even the vilest of them all.

Is the death penalty a deterrent to the commission of heinous crimes? Will it rid our society of lawless elements and protect us from being victims, or will a life sentence be enough to do this? But won’t convicts with life sentences cram further our already crowded prisons and compete with our hungry poor for funds—as during their imprisonment, government must provide them regular food rations? How many will stay in prison up to old age, wasting away their lives until they die? How many of these convicts will worsen as criminal characters while in jail or get killed during prison riots?

In the face of rampant criminality, especially heinous crimes against children and women, maybe the death penalty can serve as a strong warning for others of similar, criminal disposition. But there is nothing more humane and compassionate than leading them first into reconciliation with God, and thus be assured of salvation before they are executed.

THERESA PILI-NISPEROS, Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila