Kidnapper may get reprieve from death

The country’s first convict scheduled for execution under the Arroyo administration may get a reprieve, depending on the success of the government’s anti-kidnapping campaign.

President Arroyo said yesterday the convicted kidnapper could have his sentence commuted if kidnap-for-ransom cases significantly decline before his execution, scheduled for August 2003.

"This will happen if we can lick the problem by August," Mrs. Arroyo said in her weekly radio/TV program "May Gloria Ang Bukas Mo," aired from Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental.

When the President assumed office in January last year, she made it her administration’s policy to commute death sentences. A devout Catholic, Mrs. Arroyo believes the country’s penal system should be a mechanism for the rehabilitation of criminals, even those convicted of heinous crimes.

Last October, however, the President vowed to order the execution of up to 95 convicted kidnappers after a review by the Supreme Court (SC), saying the government needs to "strike fear" into the hearts of criminals.

"The problem is that some inmates are still running their kidnap-for-ransom operations behind bars," she said. "This policy of granting clemency should not apply to them."

There are over 1,000 death row cases under automatic review by the SC, which would either uphold or reverse the decisions of lower courts. Once affirmed by the High Court, the case of the convict is elevated to the Office of the President for disposition, either to carry out the execution or to commute the sentence to life imprisonment. – Marichu Villanueva