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PHILIPPINES: ARROYO DEFERS EXECUTION OF 3 RAPISTS

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has deferred the state execution of three rapists by 3 months, adding that she will study their request for presidential clemency.

 In 3 separate orders, Arroyo issued a 3-month reprieve order for rapists Rolando Pagdayawon, Eddie Sernadilla and Filomeno Serrano.

 She noted that this will give her office "time to conduct a study in order to determine if executive clemency may be extended to the prisoners".

 Pagdayawon's execution, sche-duled for tomorrow, was previously postponed in deference to the 74th birthday of influential Manila Archbishop, Cardinal Jaime Sin.

 At that time, however, Arroyo did not specify the date of his execution. It was rescheduled for November 28.

 Sernadilla, scheduled for execution on September 3, will be executed on December 2. Serrano, scheduled to die on September 20, will be executed on December 19.

 Pagdayawon raped his child in 1996. In 1999, Sernadilla was found guilty of raping a 6-year-old child in November, 1997. The Supreme Court affirmed his death sentence in January, 2001.

 Serrano, a former taxi driver, was sentenced to die for raping his daughter, now in her late teens.

 The reprieve does not mean that Arroyo is changing her policy to push through with the implementation of capital punishment, which the Congress reinstated in 1994.

 "This is her prerogative," explained Press Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, when asked why Arroyo had made such a decision. However, he hinted that the influential Catholic Church had pressured Arroyo.

 Arroyo, who was supported by the Catholic Church during the protests rallies to oust former President Joseph Estrada, originally promised that there would be no state executions during the time she finishes the term of Estrada until 2004.

 She is expected to run for the presidency, which has a six-year term, in 2004.

 However, in a hands-on and tough stance against the rising criminality in Metro Manila, Arroyo called for the implementation of the punishment for the death convicts whose cases underwent review by the Supreme Court.

 Archbishop Oscar Cruz earlier called on Congress to fast-track its deliberation of the abolition of the capital punishment.

 On August 26, the Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag) asked Arroyo to stop scheduled state executions, adding that Congress is about to abolish the death penalty since 102 of the 214 congressmen and 12 of the 22 senators have pledged to vote for the abolition of the capital punishment.

 Flag said the rights of some 30 death convicts were violated by the police, the prosecution, and the justices that tried their cases.

 Flag also asked the United Nations Human Rights Committee to ask the Philippine government to stop state executions while Congress tackles the issue.

 Last week, Amnesty Interna-tional called on Arroyo to grant clemency to those on death row. Eighteen people were scheduled for state execution this year, said the Bureau of Corrections.

 At least 22 death convicts were scheduled for state execution by January next year.

 Flag's petition covered only 23 convicts ; 14 rapists, 2 kidnappers, 2 robbers, and 5 murderers. There are 1,015 convicts on death row. Congress reinstated the death penalty in 1994.

 Former President Corazon Aquino unilaterally abolished capital punishment on her ascendancy to power in 1986. There was an 18-year lull before the 1st execution during the time of former President Joseph Estrada in 1999. 7 convicts were executed during his time.

 Pressured by the Catholic Church and rights groups, he eventually called for an indefinite freeze of state executions. 

Philippines Catholic leader seeks clemency for death convicts

Philippines Roman Catholic Church leader Cardinal Jaime Sin called on President Gloria Arroyo on Thursday to provide blanket clemency to more than 2,000 death row convicts and urged Congress to abolish capital punishment.

 "Following the example of the Holy Father Pope John Paul II, I appeal for clemency for those condemned to death," said Sin, the Manila archbishop.

 "The death penalty is not a solution. The generations to come will surely remember us if we spare no effort to prevent criminality without resorting to capital punishment," he said in a statement.

 President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday gave three convicted rapists on death row a 90-day reprieve from execution to give her office time to study clemency pleas.

 The three were among more than 20 convicted criminals scheduled to die this year of the nearly 1,000 inmates on death row as of August 22, according to an updated list released by the prisons bureau.

 More than a thousand others have been sentenced to death by lower courts and are awaiting transfer to death row from provincial prisons.

 Arroyo stressed on Wednesday that she would not lift a finger to help convicted kidnappers among the 20 if the incidence of kidnap crimes persisted by the time of their scheduled execution later this year.

 Seven convicts were executed in 1999, but then-president Joseph Estrada ordered an indefinite freeze following pressure from rights groups and the Church.

 Arroyo pledged to the business community last year to authorize executions involving convicted kidnappers to arrest a crime wave that has scared off foreign investors.

 In recent months there has been growing support for a proposed bill to abolish the death penalty, which was reinstated in 1994 after a 16-year break.