FLAG lawyers seek stay in 5 executions

A human rights group has asked the Supreme Court to stay the executions of death row convicts while the Roman Catholic Church yesterday also repeated its call for the abolition of capital punishment.

Lawyers Theodore Te and Ma. Socorro Diokno of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) said the executions must be suspended while Congress deliberates a proposal to abolish the death penalty.

The group asked the Supreme Court to stop the scheduled execution of convicted rapists Eddie Semadilla on Sept. 3, Filomeno Serrano on Sept. 20, Alfredo Mardo on Oct. 16, Jimmy Jacob on Oct. 31, Ramil Rayos on Jan. 8 next year, and Rolando Pagdayawon.

Pagdayawon received a temporary reprieve last week when President Arroyo rescheduled his Aug. 30 execution because it would be carried out a day before the 74th birthday of Roman Catholic Church leader Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, a staunch opponent of capital punishment. No execution date has been set.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the government felt awkward putting him to death on the eve of Sin’s birthday. "We have to take into consideration that event," he said.

Because of the reprieve, it was not yet clear if Semadilla or Pagdayawon would be executed first. Bunye said the Bureau of Corrections has a "manual of rules" on scheduling execution dates. He did not elaborate.

A day before Mrs. Arroyo postponed Pagdayawon’s execution, 100 congressmen crossed party lines and passed a resolution urging her to suspend executions while they deliberate on a bill seeking to abolish capital punishment.

The FLAG petition also covered two convicted kidnappers, 14 doomed rapists, two robbers and five murder convicts. They are among 1,015 convicts on death row as of Aug. 2.

The suit also argued that the 1994 death penalty law that restored capital punishment after an 18-year lull "doesn’t specify the compelling reasons" why convicts of "heinous crime" offenses should be executed instead of being given life terms in prison.

Catholic Archbishop Oscar Cruz, meanwhile, called on Congress to abolish capital punishment.

"The branch of government which authored the death penalty law in the past did a big disservice to civilized society. Its successors both in Congress and the Senate should now undo this by abolishing the law – lest they too become responsible for a legislation that does justice and commits injustice at the same time," he said in a statement.

While stressing that crime victims and their families deserve justice, Cruz said the death penalty indirectly punishes the families of death row convicts.

"Our hearts bleed for the victims and their families," he said. However, he added: "Are the many and revolting killings we now still have in the country not yet enough, such that we have to add even our own version of legalized killings?"

Abolished in the 1987 Constitution, the death penalty was restored in 1994 for heinous crimes such as rape, kidnapping-for-ransom, murder and drug trafficking.

Human rights groups and the Catholic Church have called for repeal of the death penalty law, saying it has not deterred crime.

Seven convicts were executed in 1999, but then President Joseph Estrada ordered an indefinite freeze following pressure from human rights groups and the Church.

After she took office in January 2001, Mrs. Arroyo suspended the death penalty. A devout Catholic, she did not support the reimposition of the death penalty when she was then a senator.

She lifted the moratorium last October, saying the freeze had emboldened criminals, particularly kidnap-for-ransom gangs. Abductions, particularly of wealthy Chinese-Filipino businessmen, have scared away investors and tourists.

No executions have occurred since the moratorium was lifted. — With Sandy Araneta, Marichu Villanueva, AFP