Philippine prisons chief says death-row convicts cannot be executed in August

Apr 4, 2002

By OLIVER TEVES,

MANILA, Philippines - Two death-row inmates who President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites) said would be executed in August cannot be put to death earlier than November, the national prisons chief said Thursday.

 Arroyo said Wednesday that the men, Roderick Licayan and Roberto Lara, convicted in 1998 of kidnapping, would be executed in August unless capital punishment is repealed in the meantime.

Gregorio Agaloos, superintendent of the national penitentiary holding the country's death-row inmates, said he had informed the president's office that the Supreme Court affirmed the men's sentences last Aug. 15. But the decision did not actually become final until Nov. 9, 2001.

Under the death-penalty law, an execution should be carried out between 12 and 18 months after the decision becomes final.

"We made a mistake," Agaloos said.

He also said that only the regional trial court that imposed the death sentence can set the execution date, and that it has not done so yet.

Arroyo suspended the death penalty after she took office in January 2001. She lifted the moratorium last October for convicted kidnappers, saying the freeze had emboldened criminals.

Kidnappings, particularly of wealthy ethnic Chinese businessmen, have scared away investors and tourists. Some victims have been killed despite payment of ransom.

The death penalty, abolished in the constitution ratified in 1987, was restored in 1994 for "heinous" crimes such as rape, kidnapping, murder and drug trafficking.

More than 1,690 people have been sentenced to death since then. Human rights groups blocked executions until 1999 and early 2000, when seven convicts were put to death, mostly for rape. They have called for a repeal of the death penalty law, saying it has not deterred crime.

Philippine president gives green light to execution of convicted kidnappers in August

Apr 3, 2002

By OLIVER TEVES, 

MANILA, Philippines - The execution of two convicted kidnappers will proceed as scheduled in August unless a new law repealing the death penalty is passed, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites) said Wednesday.

 "In general, we have a moratorium on the death penalty, except for kidnapping because until we have stopped kidnappings, we should use all the weapons we have under the law against them, and among these weapons is the death penalty," she said in a radio interview.

Arroyo suspended the death penalty after she took office in January 2001. She lifted the moratorium last October for convicted kidnappers, saying the freeze had emboldened criminals.

Kidnappings, particularly of wealthy ethnic Chinese businessmen, have scared away investors and tourists. Some abductees have been killed despite payment of ransom.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said last month that the Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for Roderick Licayan and Roberto Lara, convicted of kidnapping two people in 1998.

A crime watchdog group said 237 people were kidnapped last year, including three Americans and 17 Filipinos seized from a resort by the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf. Kidnap gangs collected about 211 million pesos in ransom (drls 4.2 million), the group said.

It said 50 people have been kidnapped from January to mid-March this year, mostly in metropolitan Manila, and about 25 million pesos (dlrs 490,000) has been paid in ransoms.

The military and police said at least four of the resort victims, including American Guillermo Sobero and about a dozen other kidnap victims � all seized by the Abu Sayyaf � were killed.

A massive U.S.-backed military operation is underway to rescue Wichita, Kansas, missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap, the last hostages still held by the Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked to the al-Qaida terror network.

The human rights lawyers' association, Free Legal Assistance Group, has urged Arroyo to stop all executions.

Lawyer Theodore Te, coordinator of the group, said in a statement that "capital punishment as a deterrent to crime is an experiment that has failed."

Te said Arroyo should wait until Congress "arrives at a clear and definitive position on the abolition of capital punishment." He called Arroyo's decision to allow the executions in August "arrogant, undemocratic."

The death penalty, abolished in the 1987 constitution, was restored in 1994 for "heinous" crimes such as rape, kidnapping, murder and drug trafficking.

More than 1,690 people have been sentenced to death since then. Human rights groups blocked executions until 1999 and early 2000, when seven convicts were put to death, mostly for rape.