24 July 2017  The Honorable   SENATOR RICHARD J. GORDON  Chairman, Committee on Justice and Human Rights  Senate of the Philippines  GSIS Complex, Pasay City   Dear Senator Gordon: The Prolife Philippines Foundation, Incorporated would appreciate   it very much to serve as one of your resource organizations should  another public hearing is called to discuss the proposal to re-institute  the death penalty. Attached is an articulation of our position on the matter and we shall be glad to propound more on this during the next public hearings  to be conducted by your kind committee.   Thank you very much. With…

MANILA— The Catholic prelate of war-torn Marawi is opposing the government’s plan to extend the martial law in Mindanao. Bishop Edwin de la Peña of Marawi favored the 60-day military rule in the region but said that extending it is no longer necessary. After all, he said, the government can already deal with the situation in Marawi even without martial law. “I am against martial law extension,” de la Peña said. “The first martial law declaration was fine but if they are going to use Marawi again to justify its extension, I don’t think it’s right.” As the military continue…

MANILA— As a wave of drug-related killings continues in the country, a Catholic bishop condemned those who sow violence the same way some once supported Judas against Jesus. In a strongly-worded homily during a Mass after a “Walk for Life” in Navotas City on Sunday, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan said that behind the violence are “Judases” who are in cahoots with the killers. He said if some people consider the suspected drug personalities as “termites of society,” so are those behind the extrajudicial killings. “They are the new ‘Makapili’ during the Japanese’ time who would betray their fellowmen and…