Six convicted rapists get 90-day reprieve from execution

President Arroyo granted yesterday 90-day reprieves to six death row convicts scheduled to be executed by lethal injection starting tomorrow.

The President signed the grant of reprieve to six convicted rapists on the recommendation of Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, said Press Secretary Milton Alingod.

As the officer in charge of the automatic review of death sentences by the Office of the President, Romulo received the Supreme Court (SC) notice yesterday that affirmed the execution of the six convicts.

Upon being signed, the reprieve orders were transmitted for action to Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez,

The Bureau of Corrections, which carries out executions, is under the Department of Justice.

In separate resolutions dated May 18, the Supreme Court en banc had endorsed the March 4 letter of Bureau of Corrections Director Dionisio Santiago setting the execution of Filomeno Serrano on June 11, Hilgem Nerio on June 12, Jonel Manio on June 17, Danilo Remudo on June 21, Fidel Alborida on June 24, and Salvador Miranda on June 29.

The resolutions were signed by acting Clerk of Court Ma. Luisa Villarama but were released only yesterday.

No death convict has been executed since Mrs. Arroyo assumed office in 2001.

But after the death of Coca-Cola Export Corp. finance manager Betti Chua Sy at the hands of kidnappers last November, the President came under pressure to resume executions for kidnapping and drug-related cases, which by law are meted the death penalty

Mrs. Arroyo is known to favor the death penalty only as a deterrent of last resort against high-profile crimes like kidnapping for ransom and the smuggling or manufacture of illegal drugs.

The President, a devout Catholic and pro-life advocate, may have found earlier this week a possible justification for extending the moratorium on the death penalty.

On Monday, Mrs. Arroyo announced that the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force, headed by Secretary Angelo Reyes, had managed to reduce to zero the number of kidnapping incidents in the country for the past three months.

Two convicted kidnappers, Roberto Lara and Roderick Licayan, were supposed to be executed last January but the SC ordered a new trial after their lawyers submitted evidence that put into doubt their involvement in the kidnapping of a Chinese businessman.