26 join death row in April

Twenty-six people, including a woman and three foreigners, drew death sentences in April, raising the total number on death row to 1,746, Sen. Loren Legarda-Leviste, an official of the anti-crime Citizens’ DrugWatch Foundation, reported over the weekend.

Of the 26, 13 were convicted of kidnapping-for-ransom, 10 for aggravated rape and three for large-scale drug trafficking.

Among the convicts were 12 men and a woman who kidnapped a 45-year-old businessman in Parañaque City, and six fathers who raped their daughters in various parts of the country.

The convicts also included two Taiwanese men and a Chinese national separately caught trafficking in a total of 20.1 kilos of shabu worth P40.2 million in Manila, Malabon and Parañaque.

Legarda-Leviste said last month’s convicts brought to 906 the number of condemned rapists on death row.

The rest of the inmates were convicted of murder, 404; kidnapping, 160; robbery with homicide, 165; drug trafficking, 56; parricide, 15; illegal possession of a firearm used in a killing, 12; qualified bribery, 10; and aggravated car theft, nine.