President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has commuted to life...

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has commuted to life imprisonment all death sentences. Executive Secretary Renato de Villa said the President approved the recommendation of the Department of Justice to commute the death sentences, although he did not say how many were covered by the order. He clarified, however, that the President did not issue an official stand on the death penalty. "Commutation of the death sentences is indicative of the policy, then it is in that in direction." De Villa said the President is personally against death penalty although she never issued a formal pronouncement on the subject. The influential Roman Catholic Church is against the imposition of the death penalty, and Macapagal-Arroyo is known to be religious and is close to Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin.Her predecessor, ousted President Joseph Estrada, in December 2000 also issued a similar order commuting all death sentences to life imprisonment. The order was a follow-up to Estrada's imposition of a moratorium on executions starting March 2000 in observance of the Jubilee Year of the birth of Jesus Christ as celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church.Although there was an earlier confusion as to who was covered by Estrada's order, then Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said the order only covered some 400 to 500 convicts, or those with final judgements by the Supreme Court (SC).