President Estrada declared an 11 month moratorium on...

President Estrada declared an 11 month moratorium on 18 out of 959 death convicts awaiting execution by lethal injection out of respect for the world-wide celebration of the Jubilee Year. Estrada announced the 11-month suspension of capital punishment after a recommendation for a moratorium was made by the Presidential Conscience Commission to Malacanang following an appeal by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). President Estrada said that he was invoking his executive power of clemency as provided for in the Constitution. Eighteen death row convicts were scheduled to die by lethal injection in 2000. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) lauded Estrada's decision. "The President's decision gives hope that a more humane but genuinely just penalty system can be established." In view of the period of the moratorium, the CBCP also asked the Congress to review and repeal the death penalty law, "in keeping with our better understanding today of crime, deterrence, rehabilitation, and punishment."