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PHILIPPINESArroyo commutes death sentences Crime victims were shocked while death-row inmates rejoiced April 16 after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she would commute death sentences to life imprisonment -- a move that could save about 1,200 convicts, including al-Qaida-linked militants (at least 11 Islamic militants belonging to Abu Sayyaf, a small al-Qaida-linked group blamed for deadly bombings and kidnappings, are on death row). In an Easter announcement apparently intended to mollify critical Catholic church leaders, Arroyo said the death sentence would be commuted to life in prison but did not say whether she would move to legally abolish the death penalty, which has not been carried out in the Philippines since 2000. Arroyo, who has been grappling for months with vote-rigging and corruption allegations, has tried to woo influential Catholic bishops, who have lamented the crisis under her rule, condemned her policy of liberalizing the mining industry and criticized a plan by her supporters to change the constitution.
The Japan Times Weekly: April 22, 2006 |
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