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CBCP welcomes Lacson, Sotto's withdrawal of support for death penalty

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ABS-CBN News

MANILA - The Catholic Bishops&#x27; Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) welcomed Senators Vicente &quot;Tito&quot; Sotto III and Panfilo Lacson&#x27;s retraction of support for death penalty.In a <a href="https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/church-welcomes-lacson-sottos-withdrawal-of-support-for-death-penalty/" target="_blank">statement</a>, the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care said the change of heart of the lawmakers will be beneficial to the Catholic Church&#x27;s pro-life advocacy. &quot;Coming from two prominent and veteran legislators, this will boost the Church’s advocacy against any moves to reintroduce capital punishment in our statute books,&quot; its chairman, Bishop Joel Baylon, said.Baylon also reiterated that capital punishment will never be a solution to crime.&quot;It is punitive and disregards the dignity, which is inherent in every human person,&quot; he said.“We maintain that it is not the severity of punishment, but the certainty that a person, who commits a crime, will be held accountable for his acts and omissions, is what will deter crime,&quot; Baylon added.Lacson on Thursday said he changed his stance and is now against the restoration of death penalty after watching the movie &quot;The Life of David Gale&quot;.The film is about an advocate for death penalty elimination who was falsely accused of a crime and found himself in death row. Lacson earlier filed a bill to restore death penalty over the increasing number of heinous crimes. His running-mate, Sotto, has also changed his stance.Sotto said one of the first bills he filed when won as senator in 1992 was the reimposition of the death penalty. But he said a better solution would be to confine high-level drug convicts and heinous criminals in a separate “super max” penitentiary with no means of communication.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/04/21/why-lacson-is-now-against-death-penalty">Lacson says he is no longer for restoration of death penalty</a></li></ul><div> </div>

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) welcomed Senators Vicente 'Tito' Sotto III and Panfilo Lacson's retraction of support for death penalty.