The Vatican’s ruling on the death penalty issue

Over the weekend, the Vatican came up with the latest decree coming from Pope Francis who ordained that the death penalty is “inadmissible” under all circumstances and the Catholic Church should campaign to abolish it. I checked with Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) with Raymond Arroyo of “World Over” and it seems that this Papal decree is a change in the teachings of the Catholic Church who has been against the Death Penalty with certain exemptions.

This Vatican decision was hailed by anti-death penalty activists and no doubt, the critics of Pope Francis insisted that the Pope had no right to change what Scripture had revealed and what the Popes have taught for many centuries. The Vatican also pointed out that Pope Francis had amended the Catechism of the Catholic Church – the compilation of official Catholic teachings to say that capital punishment can never be sanctioned because it constitutes an “attack” on the dignity of human beings.

This new teaching says that the previous Vatican policy is outdated because there are new ways to protect the common good, and the church should instead commit itself to working to end capital punishment. There is no doubt that what Pope Francis has said has worldwide implications. Here at home Malacañang said that it is not giving up its proposal to reinstate the death penalty even if Pope Francis had changed the policy in the Vatican.

Last year the House of Representatives approved the reinstatement of the death penalty bill on its third and final reading.

However the snag falls on the shoulders of our Senators many of whom are not keen on efforts to restore the law on death penalty. Incidentally, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said on Friday that the declaration by Pope Francis clears any vagueness on the position of the Catholic Church on the issue of the death penalty. At this point with mid-term elections coming next year, I doubt if the Senate would even consider talking about reinstating the death penalty bill. So at least this is a good thing for the Catholic Church.

The death penalty has been abolished in most of Europe and South America, but it is still in use in the United States and in many countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Within hours of the Vatican’s announcement, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo vowed to introduce legislation to remove the death penalty from New York state law. No doubt there are a lot of chances in the Trump presidency in the US.

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House minority leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said that there is no “material time” for Congress to finish Charter change (Cha-cha) before the May 2019 elections. If this statement comes from the majority in the House, I would be concerned. But since it comes from the minority, this statement is of no consequence because the administration leadership has committed to promoting Charter changes as enunciated by the Duterte administration. Perhaps this is why the so-called No Election (Noel) scenario came about.

If you asked House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo she has expressed opposition to a no-el (no elections) scenario that her predecessor, ousted speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, advocated. She is also willing to work with senators on Cha-cha. There is no question about the need for Charter changes in our Constitution. The problem really stems from the Aquino family who is totally opposed to Charter changes because they do not want the 1987 Constitution named after Cory Aquino to be changed at all.

So the issue is not whether federalism is good or bad for the nation, but simply put, that the unitary form of governance which we’ve had since the 1935 Constitution has not really helped improve the nation and our people, therefore there is a need for a new Charter and a shift from our present unitary to a federal form of government. 

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Incidentally during a dinner with Cebu Pacific directors, Atty. Leilani de Leon, Cebu Pacific’s industry affairs director, we talked about what Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo can do when she can no longer seek re-election in the 2019 mid-term elections. I proposed that under the leadership of GMA as House Speaker, she should bring the issue of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as her priority bill. This is a law that most transportation companies, from airlines to shipping and buses would certainly welcome. I therefore propose that the NTSB be given priority under the leadership of Speaker Arroyo so the Philippines would join other Western nations in having an organization devoted to improve safety in our transport industry.

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