On January 19, after a marathon 10-hour session, the...

On January 19, after a marathon 10-hour session, the House of Representatives approved a resolution by Rep. Roilo Golez rejecting any review of the law on the death penalty. The same day, the Supreme Court, voted 11-2 with two judges abstaining, to scrap its own restraining order on Echegaray's execution and said a date for his death by lethal injection would be set by the trial court. President Estrada turned down appeals from the Vatican, the European Union and Canada to stop his country's first execution in 23 years. In a letter delivered by his wife, Echegaray asked Cardinal Jaime Sin to help him avoid execution. "I am scandalized," Cardinal Jaime Sin said. "The rest of the world is abolishing the death penalty and we, a Roman Catholic country, are reintroducing it."