July 7, 1999, The Philippine Star, No more reprieve for 3 cop killers - Cabinet panel,

July 7, 1999, The Philippine Star, No more reprieve for 3 cop killers - Cabinet panel, 

A presidential committee tasked to review cases of death row inmates recommended to President Estrada yesterday the execution of three cop killers tomorrow, when the convicts' 90-day reprieve expires.

However, the President has yet to make an announcement today on whether or not he will order a stay of execution.

The Malacañang Review Committee - composed of Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, Justice Secretary Serafin Cuevas and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Magdangal Elma - found the three inmates deserving of execution by lethal injection.

Dante Piandong, 27; Jesus Morallos, 32, and Archie Bulan, 24, were to have been put to death by lethal injection on April 7 for the killing of PO1 Gerry Perez during a jeepney holdup in Caloocan City in July 1994. But Mr. Estrada decided to heed the advice of his spiritual adviser, Mike Velarde of the El Shaddai charismatic movement, and grant them a reprieve.

"Our recommendation is that there should be no more reprieve, much less should there be a commutation of sentence," said Cuevas after meeting with the President at Malacañang.

"We feel, in our evaluation, that the crime is grave because the three held up and killed a policeman. They didn't have to kill anyone. They could have just taken what they wanted and left," Cuevas said.

Justice Undersecretary Ramon Liwag said no court order is needed to set the date of execution since it was Mr. Estrada and not the judiciary that postponed the original execution.

Cuevas also said the President will issue a written order on the executions to prevent another phone glitch in case of an 11th hour change of heart by Mr. Estrada.

Catholic bishops had sought official assurances that any word of reprieve would get through to the death chamber on time.

Msgr. Hernando Coronel, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference (CBCP) of the Philippines, said the group wants to ensure that Mr. Estrada's whereabouts can be confirmed during the execution and that a hotline linked to the death chamber will be operational.

Earlier, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Teodoro Bacani had persuaded the President to stop rapist Eduardo Agbayani's execution at the last minute. However, Mr. Estrada was out of the Palace at the time, and ordered an assistant to contact the death chamber in his stead.

Palace aides later said they tried to call the National Penitentiary to issue the reprieve order using another telephone, but only received a busy signal followed by a fax tone. When they finally got through, Agbayani had already been pronounced dead.

Although Mr. Estrada is an expressed advocate of capital punishment, he has recently granted several reprieves.

He has said repeatedly that convicts who committed their crimes out of poverty might be spared, and has ordered a review of 10 death row cases to look for possible grounds to commute their penalties.

Church officials said they have learned that the 10 convicts in the review include Piandong, Morallos, Bulan, Jurry Andal, Ricardo Andal, Edwin Mendoza, Roberto Gungon, Oscar Escala, Josefina Esparas and Benedicto Ramos.

At the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, officials said they are ready to execute the convicts.

"A reprieve is the only thing that could prevent us from executing the convicts," said prisons spokesman Venancio Tesoro.

According to Bureau of Corrections Director Pedro Sistoza Jr., the executions will begin at 2:30 p.m. and will end "before sunset."

"It is not possible for the three convicts to die at the same time since we only have one death chamber," he said.

At the House of Representatives, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III (LAMP) urged the President to review the cases of all the 1,070 convicts awaiting execution to determine if their cases are mitigated by poverty.

He made the appeal after Mr. Estrada ordered his legal advisers to review the cases of the 10 convicts. -- Marichu Villanueva, Delon Porcalla, Jess Diaz, Jaime Laude, Sandy Araneta, Jose Aravilla