The Justice Department tasked with studying the possibility...

The Justice Department tasked with studying the possibility of de-commuting the death penalty cases defended the Philippines President Gloria Arroyo's turnaround on the death penalty as a matter of duty.
Manuel Teehanke, Undersecretary of Justice, said: "She now recognizes that (as she has said) in certain heinous crimes, assuming there is no special circumstances, she will not be inclined to commute. She will allow the law to take its course."
Teehanke added: "The Philippines officially believes in the deterrent effect of the death penalty because of the passage in 1993 of the Heinous Crime Law. And so statistics will fly both ways, that the death penalty could deter, or it might not. But we can't test it unless we use it. "
In yet another turnaround, President Arroyo recalled the commutations, after the Justice Department advised her that de-commuting would indeed be illegal.