the death penalty will be implemented “only if absolutely required by the times...

the death penalty will be implemented “only if absolutely required by the times,” President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said, she did not appear keen on implementing it because jails in the Philippines were a "fate worse than death" anyway. 
"In fact, we were able to solve the kidnapping problem without resorting to death penalty," she told a news conference in Malacañang.
Asked if her position on the death penalty would be affected by the recent kidnapping case against former actor and congressman Dennis Roldan, the President said, "You know, given our conditions in jail, that is a fate worse than death if [he] would stay there forever."
A day earlier, Arroyo granted a 90-day reprieve to 14 death row convicts.
Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye defended the reprieve, saying it did not include people convicted of drug trafficking or kidnapping.
"Based on her past pronouncements, the President is implementing a selective moratorium. For cases other than illegal drugs
or kidnapping, the President is prepared to consider granting reprieve," he said on radio.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye defended President Arroyo's decision to grant a reprieve for 14 death row inmates at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa.
"There is a law which gives right to the President to grant a reprieve or pardon to convicted prisoners," Bunye said. In this case, he said, Mrs. Arroyo used her prerogative as Chief Executive to reset the scheduled death by lethal injection of the convicts.