Repeal death sentence law, Sin reiterates

On the eve of his 74th birthday, Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin joined the heightening pressure on Congress and President Arroyo to abolish capital punishment, saying its application in the country could easily become anti-poor.

In Geneva, UN human rights chief Mary Robinson welcomed on Wednesday Mrs. Arroyo’s decision to defer the executions of three rapists, notably Rolando Pagdayawon’s which was slated today, and called on Philippine authorities to abolish the death penalty.

A statement from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, Pagdayawon "would have been the first death-row convict executed since 1999 in the country." Robinson said she acknowledged the seriousness of the crime and felt the deepest sympathy for the victim.

She also called on Mrs. Arroyo to continue a moratorium against the death penalty she had introduced after she assumed the presidency in January 2001.

Robinson, who is due to step down as high commissioner next month, called on Philippine authorities to eventually abolish the death penalty.

In Dagupan City, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said the death penalty was a disservice to civilized society, even as he rebuked politicians and government authorities who worked for its restoration in 1994.

Meanwhile, anti-death penalty lawmakers were taking advantage of the 90-day reprieve granted Wednesday by Mrs. Arroyo to three death-row convicts, and urged an indefinite moratorium on executions.

The death penalty was abolished by the 1987 Philippine Constitution ratified under then President Corazon Aquino, but was reimposed in 1994 — during the administration of then President Fidel Ramos — for "heinous crimes." – With Jess Diaz