President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines ignored...

President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines ignored fresh calls to lift a freeze on capital punishment amid a rising crime rate and granted a reprieve to 14 death row inmates, her chief aide said. 
The 14, whose names were withheld, were scheduled to die by lethal injection in May.
But Arroyo, a deeply religious Catholic, approved a recommendation by the justice department that the group be granted a reprieve, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said. They were to be freed on February 24. The announcement came amid mounting calls from crime watchdogs for Arroyo to lift a moratorium on capital punishment amid high-profile kidnapping cases. "For the moment, the president has not considered lifting the moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty," Ermita said.