First execution under GMA on Sept. 20

The first judicial execution under the Arroyo administration will occur on Sept. 20 and not on Oct. 16 as earlier reported, National Penitentiary officials said yesterday.

The officials, who requested anonymity, said the first criminal to be executed under President Arroyo would be taxi driver Filomeno Serrano, who was convicted in 1999 of raping his 13-year-old daughter five years ago.

Shortly after Mrs. Arroyo succeeded to the presidency in January 2001, she said she did not personally believe that capital punishment was a deterrent to crime and even announced a moratorium on criminal executions during her term.

But a few months into office and confronted with an economy slipping because of rising criminality, the President announced that she would resume criminal executions, particularly of kidnappers.

But there are only two convicted kidnappers whose death sentences have been affirmed by the Supreme Court and more than two dozen rapists, many of whom raped their own children.