Dear Friends,
Following is the forwarded appeal from Amnesty International (AI) that needs your urgent action regarding the death penalty in the Philippines.
The death penalty is denial of the most fundamental human rights, the right to life. Therefore, we oppose the death penalty in all cases. Nobody can be denied this right by their own government. While there have been moves to abolish the death penalty in the human rights groups and Congress, two death row convicts including the death sentence of Rolando Pagdayawon are scheduled to be executed in this August.
Please send letter to urge the president of the Philippines to commute the death sentence of Rolando Pagdayawon and to express your support current moves to abolish the death penalty. If you need more information about these moves, please visit our previous appeal at http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2002/235/ and we are providing you with the email address of the president of the Philippines for your urgent action. Please send your appeal letters to pgma@compass.com.ph or opnet@pos.gov.ph
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission
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PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 35/007/2002
EXTRA 63/02 Imminent Execution 14 August 2002
PHILIPPINES Rolando Pagdayawon (m), former police officer
Rolando Pagdayawon is scheduled to be executed on 30 August. He was convicted of the rape of his common-law wife’s nine-year-old daughter. He is the third execution date to be set in the Philippines in the last month. Two other men, Alfredo Nardo and Filemon Serrano, both also convicted of raping their daughters, have recently been sentenced to death by lethal injection. President Arroyo has the right to commute all three sentences to a prison term. If the executions go ahead, they will be the first for more than two years and will mark the end of a de facto moratorium.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The death penalty is an inherently unjust and arbitrary punishment, however heinous the crime for which it is inflicted. Studies have shown that it is more likely to be imposed on those who are poorer, less educated and more vulnerable than average. The death penalty is irrevocable, yet the risk of error in applying it is inescapable. While Amnesty International recognizes the need to combat violent crime, there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A de facto moratorium has been in place since the former President, Joseph Estrada, announced a suspension of executions to mark the Christian Jubilee year in 2000. When President Arroyo came to power, she stated she would not support the death penalty being carried out. However, in response to pressure from anti-crime lobbyists and the business community, she later announced a change of heart, saying that convicted kidnappers would be executed.
According to the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), a leading organization of human rights lawyers, by June there were 1,007 prisoners on death row at the New Bilibid Prisons and the Correctional Institution for Women. 20 prisoners whose sentences have been confirmed by the Supreme Court are at risk of execution this year. Most were convicted of rape, while two were sentenced to death for kidnapping for ransom and two for homicide.
The death penalty was reintroduced in late 1993 for a wide range of crimes, including rape, murder, kidnapping, drugs offences, treason, piracy and bribery. Executions resumed in 1999 after a period of 23 years. Seven people were executed by lethal injection between 1999 and 2000. Amnesty International has grave concerns about serious failings in the Philippine criminal justice system. The torture and ill-treatment of criminal suspects in order to coerce confessions is commonplace, increasing the risk of miscarriages of justice. Criminal suspects are often denied access to lawyers for prolonged periods and trials fall short of international standards for fairness.
There have been recent moves in Congress towards abolition of the death penalty. In May, the House Committees on Revision of Laws and Civil, Political and Human Rights approved bills providing for abolition. The Senate is currently considering a similar bill.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:
– urging the President to commute the death sentence of Rolando Pagdayawon;
– expressing unconditional opposition to the death penalty as a violation of one of the most fundamental human rights – the right to life;
– expressing sympathy for the victims of rape but pointing out that the death penalty has never been shown to have a unique deterrent effect, and is brutalizing to all involved;
– expressing concern at serious defects in the Philippine criminal justice system, including the use of torture, lack of access to lawyers and unfair trials, which increase the risk of executing the innocent;
– urging the President to grant an official moratorium on all executions, and to support current moves within Congress to abolish the death penalty.
APPEALS TO: (Please note that fax tones are sometimes difficult to obtain)
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Malaca?ng Palace
J.P. Laurel St San Miguel 1005
Manila
Philippines
Telegrams: President Macapagal-Arroyo, Manila, Philippines
Fax: + 63 2 736 1010 / 832 3793
Salutation: Dear President Macapagal-Arroyo
COPIES TO:
Secretary of Justice
Secretary Hernando Perez
Department of Justice
Padre Faura, Ermita, Manila
Philippines
Fax: + 63 2 521 1614
and to diplomatic representatives of the Philippines accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
