AN EVANGELICAL bishop reiterated his support on Senator Miguel Zubiri's proposal to revive the death penalty in the wake of the bloody Manila hostage crisis last Monday.
In a statement, Bishop Efraim Tendero, national director of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), said: "We are in favor of death penalty as it is biblical.”
However, he said that the measure must be balanced by a reliable judicial system.
In 2006, the group criticized the decision of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she abolished death penalty.
The group said they support the imposition of death penalty, noting that capital crimes which lead to the loss of other lives deserve capital punishment.
“We uphold the principle of life for life. The punishment must fit the crime. The penalty must be commensurate to the gravity of the offense,” the group said in their statement four years ago.
Last week, Zubiri filed Senate Bill No. 2383 seeking to revive death penalty as it would help deter the commission of heinous crimes in the country.
“Let us restore the death penalty for heinous crimes. I always say, if you do the crime, you do the time. Now I say, if you do a heinous crime, then you can say goodbye to your time," the lawmaker said.(FP/Sunnex)