Arroyo defers execution of three rapists

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has deferred the state execution of three rapists by three months, adding that she will study their request for presidential clemency.

In three separate orders, Arroyo issued a three-month reprieve order for rapists Rolando Pagdayawon, Eddie Sernadilla and Filomeno Serrano.

She noted that this will give her office "time to conduct a study in order to determine if executive clemency may be extended to the prisoners".

Pagdayawon's execution, sche-duled for tomorrow, was previously postponed in deference to the 74th birthday of influential Manila Archbishop, Cardinal Jaime Sin.

At that time, however, Arroyo did not specify the date of his execution. It was rescheduled for November 28.

Sernadilla, scheduled for execution on September 3, will be executed on December 2. Serrano, scheduled to die on September 20, will be executed on December 19.

Pagdayawon raped his child in 1996. In 1999, Sernadilla was found guilty of raping a six-year-old child in November, 1997. The Supreme Court affirmed his death sentence in January, 2001.

Serrano, a former taxi driver, was sentenced to die for raping his daughter, now in her late teens.

The reprieve does not mean that Arroyo is changing her policy to push through with the implementation of capital punishment, which the Congress reinstated in 1994.

"This is her prerogative," explained Press Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, when asked why Arroyo had made such a decision. However, he hinted that the influential Catholic Church had pressured Arroyo.

Arroyo, who was supported by the Catholic Church during the protests rallies to oust former President Joseph Estrada, originally promised that there would be no state executions during the time she finishes the term of Estrada until 2004.

She is expected to run for the presidency, which has a six-year term, in 2004.

However, in a hands-on and tough stance against the rising criminality in Metro Manila, Arroyo called for the implementation of the punishment for the death convicts whose cases underwent review by the Supreme Court.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz earlier called on Congress to fast-track its deliberation of the abolition of the capital punishment.

On August 26, the Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag) asked Arroyo to stop scheduled state executions, adding that Congress is about to abolish the death penalty since 102 of the 214 congressmen and 12 of the 22 senators have pledged to vote for the abolition of the capital punishment.

Flag said the rights of some 30 death convicts were violated by the police, the prosecution, and the justices that tried their cases.

Flag also asked the United Nations Human Rights Committee to ask the Philippine government to stop state executions while Congress tackles the issue.

Last week, Amnesty Interna-tional called on Arroyo to grant clemency to those on death row. Eighteen people were scheduled for state execution this year, said the Bureau of Corrections.

At least 22 death convicts were scheduled for state execution by January next year.

Flag's petition covered only 23 convicts – 14 rapists, two kidnappers, two robbers, and five murderers. There are 1,015 convicts on death row. Congress reinstated the death penalty in 1994.

Former President Corazon Aquino unilaterally abolished capital punishment on her ascendancy to power in 1986. There was an 18-year lull before the first execution during the time of former President Joseph Estrada in 1999. Seven convicts were executed during his time.

Pressured by the Catholic Church and rights groups, he eventually called for an indefinite freeze of state executions.