Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday signed a law abolishing the death penalty in her country.
CBC News · Posted: Jun 24, 2006 4:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 24, 2006Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday signed a law abolishing the death penaltyinthe country.
The move comes on the eve of a visit to the Vatican by Arroyo, a staunch Roman Catholic. Hervisitwas to include an audience with Pope Benedict XVIandmeetings with Filipino workers in Milan.
The Philippines's constitution abolished the death penalty in 1987. But its congress restored capital punishment in 1993 for crimes such as murder, rape and kidnapping. Seven people have been executed since the reinstatement.
The new law means that more than 1,200 convicts on death row will be saved from killing by lethal injection and their sentences will becommuted to life imprisonment.
"We yield to the high moral imperative dictated by God to walk away from capital punishment," Arroyo said in a speech after signing the law.