Church urges Congress to repeal death penalty law

The Roman Catholic Church urged Congress yesterday to repeal the death penalty law, taking advantage of a moratorium on executions ordered by President Estrada.

Last Friday Mr. Estrada, a staunch advocate of the death penalty, ordered executions suspended for the rest of the year at the request of the Catholic Church in observance of the Jubilee Year.

In Israel during biblical times, criminals were pardoned during the Jubilee Year which occurs every 50 years. This year, according to the Catholic Church, is also the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. The Jubilee Year started Dec. 24, 1999, and will end on Jan. 6, 2001.

"I respectfully urge our legislators to use the period of the moratorium to review the death penalty and have it repealed," said Msgr. Orlando Quevedo, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Quevedo praised the President's decision which he said "surely comes from a compassionate heart."

"The President's decision gives hope that a more humane but genuinely just penal system can be established," he said.

Five people were scheduled to die by lethal injection within the next few months: Victor Esteban (March 29), Gregorio Pagupat (April 5), Felipe de los Santos (April 26), Renante Robles Jr. (April 26) and Rodrigo Calma (May 9). Esteban and Pagupat were convicted for raping their teenage daughters.

Officials told Agence France Press that up to 18 convicts will benefit from the reprieve.