Yes or No to Death Penalty?

The gruesome, senseless and very violent killing of ten human beings (9 bank employees and 1 client) recently in a bank in Laguna made me shudder and weep not only for the lost lives but for their families as well. It made me ask questions like, Why do the robbers have to kill them?, Why don't they just take the money and flee?, Why did God allow it happen to those people?

This incident has made me angry, made me speak ill of those people who committed this crime. And for a lot of people, to revive the death penalty seems to be the answer to this problem. But, is it? It made me think about it too since I had been hearing this issue for a few days now. And as if it's not enough, just this morning my officemate showed us an email he got containing the pictures of the victims which were taken from the crime scene. There were even 3 persons who were lying face down on the floor, with gun shot wounds on their heads. I assume they were made to lie face down on the floor by the bank robbers but even if they did, they were still killed.

If I would only use my emotion to decide, I would say, yes the people who did it should be killed too. But we can't just do that. We have to consider a lot of things like the justice system here in the Philippines. The manner of determining the innocence or guilt of a suspect here in the Philippines is quite unreliable. A lot of people can be corrupted. What if the suspect is rich and he uses his money to bribe some people just to clear his name and point to someone else as the killer or rapist? These are just a few of the things we need to consider, there are a lot more that I haven't mentioned here.

As for me, I still have to really think hard before I can decide. For now, I still believe that God allows things to happen for a reason but don't ask me what his reason is because I have been asking that question too.