Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
(April 03, 2000)
WHERE there used to be only death and persecution, lights were turned on last week to celebrate the moratorium on executions in the Philippines.
The Vatican’on Saturday lighted up the ancient Roman Colosseum as a message that Philippine government leaders have been enlightened to respect the value of human life, according to Manila Auxiliary Bishop Teodoro Bacani.
Gladiatorial combats were held in the place until the year 404 and persecuted Christians were killed by beasts.
Bacani yesterday said the Vatican sent him a fax message informing him that Pope John Paul II was very happy to learn that President Estrada had granted the request of the Philippine Catholic Church to declare a moratorium on executions during the Catholic world’s Jubilee Year.
“They lighted up the RomanColosseum in the evening of March 25 immediaely after the President’s announcement of the moratorium,” Bacani told the INQUIRER.
“Rome has done this only for the Philippines because we’re the only country that has announced a moratorium in deference to the Jubilee Year,” Bacani said.
The Colosseum, damaged several times by earthquake, is the most imposing of Romananitquities. Its construction started in AD 75 and as completed 5 years later.
It was used as the site of gladiators’ matches until 404, and oppressed Christians were thrown to beasts there.
“They turned on all the lights in the Colosseum for one night, or maybe even more than one night, to celebrate the Philippine announcement,” Bacani said.
On March 24, the President announced a moratorium on all executions this year. The order was in response to a request from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, in deference to the observance of the Jubilee Year, the 2,000th,anniversary of the birth of Christ.
The moratorium would save at least 18 convicts from death, according to Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora.
The Philippines also figured prominently yesterday when Pope John Paul II led the Worldwide recitation of the Holy Rosary from the Vatican. The Philippines led the Asian continent in one of the mysteries.
Bacani, who is the spiritual director of the charismatic group El Shaddai, said he was sure the sentence of the death convicts would be commuted after the lapse of the one-year moratorium.
He said there has been a turnaround in the sentiment favoring the death penalty because it has not been proven to be a deterrent of crime.
On Tuesday, the CBCP said there were no strings attached to its request for a moratorium on executions.
The Catholic Church did not offer anything to President Estrada in exchange for the moratorium, according to CBCP secretary general and spokesperson Bishop Nestor Cariño.
But Cariño admitted that Mr. Estrada, being a politician, could use the moratorium to re-establish a better relationship with the Church.
Supporters of the death penalty had expressed suspicion that the President granted the request of the Church in view of the 2001 elections.
“He’s a politician and we can’t avoid that,” said Cariño.
He said the Church, in calling for the suspension of executions and the repeal of the death penalty, is only doing its task, of life “from womb to tomb.”
The anti-crime cititizens group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption has protested that the moratorium is unconstitutional.
It said using the Jubilee Year as the basis for postponing executions for the entire year is “unconstitutional, pro-convict and oppressive to all the victims of heinous crimes.”
Bacani also said the selection of the Philippines to represent Asia in the worldwide recitation of the Holy Rosary was a “logical” choice for the Vatican since “we’re the only Christian country so far in Asia and we’re the most Marian in orientation.”
The Philippine participation was led by Fr. Tamerlane Lana, rector of, the, University of Sto. Tomas, on the UST campus from 2:30 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.
The other countries that represented the other continents in the saying of the rosary were the United State for North Americam, Brazil for South America, Poland for Europe and the Ivory Coast for Africa.
The recitation of the rosary was meant to seek the Blessed Virgin Mary’s guidance in the Third Millennium.
BY PIA LEE-BRAGO