107 death convicts get reprieve

A total of 107 convicts have been spared the lethal injection after their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, the chief of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) announced yesterday.

The convicts were represented by PAO lawyers when their cases were appealed before the Supreme Court. PAO chief Precida Acosta said 78 others, half of whom were initially meted the death penalty, were acquitted.

She said that this was the first time that the PAO, which provides legal service to indigents, won so many cases.

About 70 inmates whose death sentences have been commuted were presented before the media in a press conference at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City yesterday.

Acosta said that 95 percent of the 107 inmates were convicted for rape. One of whom was a ranking police official accused of rape in Valenzuela in 1994.

"We are happy that our PAO lawyers were able to lower their (convicts’) sentences. Ngayon ay may pagkakataon na silang ipakita na sila ay nagbagong buhay na," Acosta told reporters, as the convicts, who were all wearing the NBP’s orange T-shirts, applauded.

Sources said the Supreme Court affirmed the penalties of 89 convicts on death row.

Four convicted rapists are scheduled to be executed starting Aug. 30, said NBP director Ricardo Macala. The next execution dates are on Sept. 20, Oct. 16, and Oct. 31.

Macala declined to name the convicts, but sources told The STAR that taxi driver Filemon Serrano is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Sept. 20, to be followed by Rolando Pagdagayon on Oct. 16.

President Arroyo has reinstated the death penalty to serve as a deterrent to crime. Deposed President Joseph Estrada suspended the death penalty but only after seven convicts had been executed.