Prison chaplain expects stay of executions

The chaplain of the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) said yesterday he was successful in helping death row inmates Roberto Lara and Roderick Licayan accept death by lethal injection before the end of the month.

"They are already in the acceptance stage," Rev. Roberto Olaguer told The STAR. "Denial and compromise are all over."

Olaguer said Lara and Licayan are now able to smile, even though "the agony is still there, especially when they see their families. But they said they are excited to meet their Creator with a peaceful mind."

He admitted that he is in a very hard position because he tries "not to be emotional."

"When I see their families crying with them, I always try to lighten up the mood," Olaguer said.

The NBP chaplain said that while he has helped Lara and Licanan accept their fate, he is "101 percent sure the executions will be put on hold."

Olaguer said his hopes remain high because of the developments at the Supreme Court (SC), which set the kidnap-for-ransom case against the two inmates for oral argument tomorrow.

"Emotional appeal obviously does not work for President Arroyo," he said. "So, we have to go for legal means to preserve an innocent life."

The SC earlier affirmed the death penalty imposed on Lara and Licayan for the kidnapping of Chinese-Filipino businessman Joseph Tomas Co and his assistant, Linda Manaysay in 1998.

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) has filed a motion seeking a stay of the execution and the reopening of the case based on the testimony of Pedro Mabansag and Rogelio delos Reyes, two other suspects in the case, who were arrested earlier this month.

Both Mabansag, the alleged mastermind, and Delos Reyes claimed that Lara had nothing to do with the abduction of Co and Manaysay.

Meanwhile, former senator Ernesto Herrera said trial courts nationwide meted out death sentences to a total of 136 convicts last year, an increase of 23 percent from the 110 convicts who drew death sentences in 2002.

Herrera, one of the principal authors of the death penalty law, said at least 30 convicts will be put to death by lethal injection this year unless they get a presidential or judicial reprieve.

He added that he expects the President to carry out at least one execution before her term ends in June.

Herrera, who chairs the anti-crime watchdog Citizens’ DrugWatch Foundation, said of the 136 convicts meted death sentences last year, 46 were convicted for rape. Thirty-one of the 46 were found guilty of incestuous rape.

Thirty others were found guilty of kidnapping, 23 for murder, 19 for robbery, 13 for drug trafficking and five for other felonies.

Herrera said the largest number of convicts sentenced to death in a single case was 10. A court meted out death sentences to 10 men said to be members of the Pentagon gang for the kidnap-for-ransom of a physician and four other people in General Santos City.

Among those meted a death sentence last year is Michael Chang, a 30-year-old Chinese national who was caught selling 1.7 kilos of shabu worth P3.4 million. He was convicted in absentia by a Muntinlupa City court after he jumped bail. Chang remains at large.

A former Marine sergeant and a former police officer drew death sentences last year for separate kidnap-for-ransom cases.

Herrera also cited an unusual case of a housemaid in Manila who received a death sentence for the crime of arson with multiple homicide after she set fire to her employer’s house, killing a family of six.