Only convicted kidnappers, and not all death row convicts...

Only convicted kidnappers, and not all death row convicts such as rapists or drug dealers, were subject to public execution, Philippine President Malacanang said. The clarification further reinforced criticism that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty was intended to appease the Chinese-Filipino community, which had expressed anger over the government's seeming inability to neutralize kidnap-for-ransom gangs. Justice Undersecretary Jose Calida also said "it would be better" if convicted kidnappers were executed first. "(The kidnapping problem) is the reason for all this clamor for the lifting of the moratorium," he said.