EU envoys call for stop to executions

The European Union called yesterday on the Philippines to abolish capital punishment, but the government is standing firm on its decision to resume executions after a three-year moratorium.

Malacañang also told the European ambassadors the issue was an internal matter.

EU ambassadors made the call during an unprecedented visit to the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City to check on the condition of its 17,000 inmates, more than 1,000 of whom are on death row, with two due to be executed by lethal injection in two weeks.

The ambassadors called the death penalty "inhumane" and said it had not proved to be a deterrent against serious crimes.

"All of the European Union members are against the death penalty under all circumstances and that’s a view which we have made known to the Philippine government," British chargé d’affaires Robert Fitchett told reporters outside the prison.

Reporters were not allowed to accompany the diplomats into the heavily guarded facility.

"We have been in the forefront of the international fight to obtain universal abolition of the death penalty," Netherlands Ambassador Robert Vornis said during the visit.

Vornis said the delegation had sought a meeting with President Arroyo, but was instead referred to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The envoys from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Sweden, Belgium and Spain comprised the delegation that visited the National Penitentiary, EU spokeswoman Alica Louro said.

Mrs. Arroyo said the position of the EU envoys was well taken.

"But we are also expecting them to respect the President’s stand on the issue as an internal matter with respect to Philippine justice and the rule of law," she stressed in a statement.

Last month, Mrs. Arroyo ended a nearly four-year moratorium on executions amid widespread public perception of rampant criminality, specifically kidnapping and murders targeting the financially influential ethnic Chinese community.

Convicted kidnappers Roberto Lara and Roderick Licayan are due to be executed on Jan. 30 in the first executions since the moratorium was lifted.

The EU issued a demarche addressed to the late foreign affairs secretary Blas Ople a few days after Mrs. Arroyo announced her decision to lift the moratorium on executions.

The EU envoys sought an audience with newly installed Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert to reiterate their stand against judicial executions after the President hosted the traditional vin d’ honneur for the diplomatic community at the Palace last week.

Albert, for her part, defended the government’s decision to carry out the death penalty for two convicts "who have been properly tried, convicted and sentenced."

She said the EU’s demarche "was not unexpected."

"We have given the EU the opportunity to make its representation. We will always be open to continue our dialogue on this issue as well as on other issues. I hope to meet the ambassadors of the EU shortly and I am sure we will take up this matter and a host of other issues," Albert said.

She added that she does not feel the ambassadors went beyond their diplomatic mandates by openly opposing the government’s decision to implement the death penalty.

European Commission Ambassador Jan de Kok said that while European countries respected Philippine laws and did not wish to "unduly influence" government policies, they were nonetheless concerned about the situation.

"Let us make it clear, this is not any specific action against the Philippines, it is part of our overall policy globally to advocate against death penalty," he said.

De Kok refused to say how the government’s death penalty policy will affect relations with the EU, a major donor to the Philippines. He said sanctions were unlikely, but that the policy "probably will have some consequences for the international image" of the Philippines.

He also warned that the EU has always considered the issue of death penalty "an essential element in all its dealings."

De Kok noted that international criminal courts do not impose the death penalty even if they try people for crimes such as genocide and terrorism.

He added that he and other envoys were "impressed by the freedom and relative neatness inside the (NBP’s) maximum security compound."

Bureau of Corrections director Dionisio Santiago said the mere presence of the diplomats in the National Penitentiary was a subtle way to exert pressure on Mrs. Arroyo.

NBP superintendent Venacio Tesoro said the diplomats’ visit may be interpreted in two ways — the EU is exerting pressure on the Philippine government or these envoys are examining the Philippine correctional system for possible adaptation in their respective countries.

In a related development, Tesoro said the NBP will resume the strict implementation on rules regarding media coverage of the upcoming executions.

He said the Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered the strict implementation of these rules because of complaints against a media outfit that aired the faces of Lara and his mother.

"Actually, the media are prohibited from entering the compound and, even worse, showing to the public the faces of a death convict and his relatives," Tesoro said, admitting they had been lenient about enforcing the rules.

He said the EU diplomats requested media coverage of their visit, but this was not allowed because of the DOJ’s order.

Tesoro added that Lara’s mother was not allowed to enter the compound and visit her son yesterday morning because of the presence of reporters.

"We will only allow the families of convicts to go inside if there are no media around," he said.

Official records show there are 1,005 inmates on death row here, many of them convicted of rape and kidnapping. Of the total, 165 cases have been affirmed by the Supreme Court and can only be stopped by a presidential stay.

The death penalty was abolished in 1987, but reinstated in 1994 for "heinous" crimes such as rape, kidnapping, murder and drug trafficking.

Opposition from human rights groups held up executions until 1999. Seven convicts were put to death by lethal injections, mostly for rape, through early 2000 when then President Joseph Estrada declared a moratorium on judicial executions amid pressure from the influential Catholic church and rights groups.

Mrs. Arroyo, a staunch Catholic, reversed the moratorium a month after the body of kidnapped Chinese-Filipino Coca-Cola executive Betti Chua Sy was found stuffed in a trash bag in November.

Independent statistics showed that Sy was the 156th kidnap victim last year, when abductions reached a 10-year high. — With reports from Marvin Sy, AFP