MANILA - Sen. Manny Pacquiao on Wednesday said he is pushing for the revival of the death penalty in the Philippines, saying capital punishment is allowed "biblically."

Pacquiao, a devout Christian, has repeatedly pushed for the reimposition of capital punishment since 2016, saying even Jesus Christ was sentenced to death.

"Ang pag-reinstate ng death penalty sa bansa natin, hindi po illegal, hindi po against sa mata ng goberyno, sa mata ng Panginoon," the boxer-turned-senator said in plenary.

"Biblically po allowed ang gobyerno, which is established by God, to impose death penalty for heinous crimes."

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Pacquiao said he would further substantiate why the Bible allows killing convicted criminals when the Senate tackles death penalty bills either on the committee level or in plenary.

In 2016, Pacquiao said that he prefers to have heinous-crime convicts killed by a firing squad.

• Shoot them? Hang them? Pacquiao hankers for death penalty return

In 2018, an official of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the "fighting senator" had a "wrong interpretation of the Bible.

Pacquiao was also urged to "research" about capital punishment to avoid "misleading the public" after the senator used a Bible passage to justify the killing of convincted criminals.

• Pacquiao told to 'do research,' stop misleading public on death penalty