On February 5, the Philippines Supreme Court rejected...

On February 5, the Philippines Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal to halt the execution, and Leo Echegaray was put to death at 3 p.m. (0700 GMT). Nearby schools were closed and barbed-wire barricades were erected at the prison gates to hold back large numbers of reporters and demonstrators for and against the death penalty. The head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Archbishop Oscar Cruz, called it a "sad day." "Life is taken away - not by accident, not by sickness, not even by a criminal. But by no less than the state," he said. During his weekly radio program, President Estrada commented: "Today's execution is proof of the Government's determination to maintain law and order. I can grant clemency or a reprieve to those who committed a crime because of poverty, but this (Echegaray's crime) was not due to poverty. It was due to his animal instinct." Coalition Against the Death Penalty Spokesman Fr. Jun Borres, who led some 400 human rights advocates in a protest march outside the gates of the National Bilibid Prison, chided Estrada for his "childish and shabby" reasoning in refusing to hear any plea from inmate Leo Echegaray. "This is just the way for Estrada to perpetuate his image as a street toughie," he said.