THE PHILIPPINES. FAST-TRACKING OF BILL ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY URGED

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr., a pro-life advocate, welcomed the decision of President Arroyo to commute the death sentence of prisoners at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City to life imprisonment as he asked the Senate to speed up the passage of his bill seeking to abolish the death penalty. Pimentel, however, said a better approach for the President is to seek her allies in Congress to pass a measure abolishing the capital punishment.