PHILIPPINES: BISHOP: DEATH PENALTY A 'COSMETIC SOLUTION' TO CRIMES

Bishop Pedro Arigo, head of the Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care of the Catholic Church in the Philippines said killing criminals will not address the root cause of crimes. "The death penalty is nothing but a cosmetic solution that will give an illusion that we are doing something about crime," he said in a statement posted on the CBCP website. Arigo appealed to Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri to "stop giving us false hopes that we will be safe and secure by putting people to death." The bishop said the killing of convicts will not address the root, as well as the immediate cause of crime. "It is an easy way out. Killing people is never the answer," Arigo said. Archbishop Paciano Aniceto of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life said the revival of the death penalty is nothing but "a step backward" for a country already "progressing." "The death penalty is not a solution. There are many detainees in the maximum security facility, including those facing the death penalty, but we still do not see improvements in our society," he said.