The Philippine Bishops' Office on Bioethics said that...

The Philippine Bishops' Office on Bioethics said that the draft bill offering reduced sentences to death-row convicts who donate their kidneys sounded "creative" but was morally defective. In a statement the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said that such legislation could be "morally coercive and prejudicial." The statement also said that the proposal did not leave an innocent convict a choice since that convict would likely donate an organ rather than face the prospect of dying for a crime he or she did not commit. The statement reiterated the conference's call for the abolition of the death penalty. Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi of Caceres, who heads the office said the draft law "can be tantamount to forcing a person to make a decision that could in fact be against his will."