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VACC to Pope Francis: Open your heart to death penalty


A Philippine anti-crime group on Friday appealed to Pope Francis to “open your heart and mind on the issue of death penalty,” noting the country's “alarming culture of impunity.”

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) aired its appeal less than a month before Pope Francis' five-day visit to the Philippines.

“With the coming visit of the Pope, the VACC hopes to ventilate its advocacy against heinous crime, corruption and illegal drugs in the strong belief that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime,” the group said in a statement.

VACC said it will try to hand to the Pope a “letter of appeal” regarding the issue when he visits the country in January.

The group argued that the peace and order situation in the Philippines is largely different from those of the European countries who are against death penalty.

“Here in our country, we are experiencing an alarming culture of impunity where criminals have become so bold that crimes are committed at an alarming rate anywhere, anytime even at daytime in public or densely populated areas and even inside prisons such as the New Bilibid Prisons where convicts recommits similar illegal activities,” VACC said.

On Monday, in a surprise inspection of the maximum security compound of the NBP, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima and team of police and government agents found several rooms or kubols with luxurious facilities such as sauna, jacuzzi with a television screen, a 50-inch flat screen TV, a split-type aircon, a home theater system and an LCD projector.

One cell was also found to have a recording studio, complete with a stage and sound system for live performances.

Expensive items such as shoes, sunglasses, watches, gadgets and even sex toys were also discovered in some of the kubols, along with suspected packs of shabu.

“The recent discovery at the NBP of the luxurious lifestyles of inmates behind bars attest to this alarming landscapes on crime including illegal drug trafficking," VACC founder and president Dante Jimenez said in the statement.

“Also, most of our Asian neighbors subscribe to the death penalty. We therefore appeal to Pope Francis to be open to the issue of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime. The crime situation in the Philippines is so unlike the European countries and the growing number of victims of heinous crimes is crying out for justice. I hope he will listen to our plea,” he added. —Elizabeth Marcelo/KBK, GMA News

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