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CBCP to gov't: Free ageing, sick prisoners
by Leslie Ann Aquino
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Prison and Pastoral Care appealed to President Duterte to grant executive clemency to aging and sick prisoners.
"We would like to appeal to His Excellency to grant their plea for executive clemency," Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak of the Military Ordinariate and ECPPC chairman said in a letter to Duterte obtained by CBCP News. "The prisoners are longing to be free. They have sought our help on this matter," he added.
Tumulak said the prisoners and their families have been enduring the effect of incarceration for several years especially those who have been sick and are presently confined at the hospital.
Their release, he said, will be a "humanitarian act" of the Chief Executive as the Church marks Prison Awareness Week, which coincides with the National Correctional Consciousness Week on October 24 to 30.