Pacquiao preaches death penaltyMANILA: Philippine boxing icon-turned-senator Manny Pacquiao used the Bible to defend restoring the death penalty for drug traffickers as “approved by God”, backing a controversial proposal of President Rodrigo Duterte. Addressing critics of the proposal, Pacquiao said: “God allows the death penalty to discipline the people and to punish those wrongdoers.” AFPAFP/CC He said he saw no contradiction between his beliefs and his support for the death penalty. The Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006 following staunch opposition from the Catholic Church, the religion of 80 percent of Filipinos. We can also say the chair was just knocked down.”Pacquiao said he filed several bills on the death penalty including for drug crimes, rape and murder because Philippine laws “lacked teeth.”But he did not answer questions on whether there were any studies showing that the death penalty led to lower crime rates.

Source: Manila Times August 08, 2016 11:26 UTC