PHILIPPINES: Philippines stays executions on two kidnappers

28/01/04 - The Philippines' highest court has stayed 2 executions, the 1st scheduled in 4 years following the president's decision to lift a moratorium on the death penalty, the national prisons chief said.

New witnesses had come forward in the cases of convicted kidnappers Roberto Lara and Roderick Licayan, who had been scheduled to undergo lethal injection on Friday, said acting Bureau of Corrections head Reinero Albano.

President Gloria Arroyo, despite saying she was personally against the death penalty, lifted the moratorium in December to curb a rash of violent crimes, including kidnapping for ransom that had targetted members of the affluent ethnic Chinese community.

She had earlier rejected appeals from the church and human rights groups to put off the execution of Lara and Licayan, saying the only way to save the two would be for the high court to reverse their penalties.

Albano said the Supreme Court had transmitted to him a 2-page resolution suspending the executions for 30 days.

The court resolution was issued in response to a petition by defense lawyers who said new witnesses had surfaced who could testify that Lara and Licayan were innocent.

The stay will give the Supreme Court time to decide whether to re-open the case, the lawyers said.

Seven convicts were put to death between 1999 and 2000, but then-president Joseph Estrada declared a moratorium on judicial executions amid pressure from the influential Catholic church and rights groups.