After meeting with Pope John Paul II, President Arroyo announced Saturday that the government will maintain its moratorium on capital punishment.
In an interview with Vatican television, Mrs. Arroyo said her administration will continue to closely follow Catholic doctrine in various policies, including the suspension of the death penalty. The Catholic Church is strongly opposed to capital punishment. The death penalty was reinstated in 1994 under the administration of former President Fidel Ramos, but the first judicial execution since the martial law years — of convicted rapist Leo Echagaray — was in January 1999 under Mrs. Arroyo’s predecessor, ousted President Joseph Estrada. — Mayen Jaymalin