The leader of Crusade Against Violence, Carina Agarao,...

The leader of Crusade Against Violence, Carina Agarao, rejected a law proposed by Sen. Robert Barbers to execute by lethal injection minors aged 16 and seventeen. "Not all people aged 16 or 17 are that mature in thinking... but could have been lured by an older person who could be the mastermind," Ms Agarao said. Sen. Barbers proposed the law in response to President Estrada's call to execute 3 17-year-olds who were among 5 accused of murdering Edwin Lopez, a member of the elite Lopez business clan, and raping 3 women. Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. branded the proposal "ridiculous" because "there will be no end" to further reducing the age of execution if criminals got younger. Opposition Congressman Hernani Braganza reminded the Government that it had already signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits countries from executing or giving life terms to minors. About 100 children, rights campaigners and members of the aid group Médecins Sans Frontières have marched on Manila's presidential palace to protest the bill imposing the death penalty on juveniles. They called on the Philippine Congress and President Estrada to drop the bill.