RP jails brace for riots on execution day<\/p>\n
MANILA (Agencies): Prisons across the Philippines are on the
\nalert for riots, breakout attempts and other troubles on Friday
\nwhen convicted rapist Leo Echegaray becomes the first person to
\nbe executed in 23 years.<\/p>\n
\"We're already on red alert,\" Gregorio Agaloos, superintendent
\nof the national penitentiary in southern Manila, told local
\ntelevision on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The death chamber has been ringed with barbed wire and traffic
\nis being kept outside a one-kilometer radius. Large crowds for
\nand against capital punishment were expected to gather outside
\nthe prison from Thursday night.<\/p>\n
At other jails, gang activity is being monitored for \"the
\npossibility of turbulence or disorder,\" bureau of jail management
\nand penology director, Themistocles Jamisolamin, said.<\/p>\n
Other facilities are on \"blue alert\", meaning half their
\npersonnel are on 24-hour standby \"in preparation for any
\noccurrence of incidents,\" Jamisolamin told DZBB radio.<\/p>\n
Inmates' visits by relatives would be curtailed on Friday and
\nguards are on the alert for mass breakout attempts, he added.<\/p>\n
Echegaray, a 38 year-old decorator convicted of raping his
\nstepdaughter five times, is scheduled to be put to death on
\nFriday afternoon -- the 101st execution since 1924 but the first
\nsince 1976 and the first using an injection of lethal drugs.<\/p>\n
Eight others among the 915-strong death row population are
\nlined up for a lethal injection this year.<\/p>\n
Echegaray had previously been scheduled to die on Jan. 4. But
\nit was suspended by the Supreme Court three hours before the
\ninjection was due to be given, because of reported attempts to
\nreview the 1994 law that reintroduced the death penalty.<\/p>\n
When Congress passed a motion saying there would be no review,
\nthe court said the execution was on again.<\/p>\n
President Joseph Estrada, reaffirming his rejection of calls
\nfor mercy, cut his telephone hotline to the death chamber to deny
\nEchegaray any chance of a last-minute reprieve.<\/p>\n
A firm believer in capital punishment as a deterrent, Estrada
\ntold reporters he advised the prisons chief Pedro Sistoza \"not to
\nexpect phone calls from me. They don't have to wait for any
\ncall.\"<\/p>\n
He has rejected separate appeals from the Vatican, the
\nEuropean Union, Canada and Amnesty International, the London-
\nbased civil rights monitor.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Oscar Cruz, president of the country's organization
\nof Roman Catholic bishops, also rejected calls for them to appeal
\nto Pope John Paul II to intercede.<\/p>\n
Echegaray's wife, carrying a pink rose in her hand, visited
\nhim for a final time in prison on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Prison officials said Echegaray's wife, Zenaida, fainted as
\nthey parted on Thursday and was taken to the prison hospital to
\nrecover.<\/p>\n
More than a hundred Catholic nuns, priests and others wearing
\nblack masks and nooses around their necks marched on Thursday to
\nthe presidential palace asking that the execution be called off.<\/p>\n
Echegaray's wife told The Associated Press that he said he was
\n\"upset that the president has a heart like a stone, but he will
\ncontinue to pray that up to the last minute God will soften the
\npresident's heart and save him.\"<\/p>\n
A church official said he delivered a handwritten letter on
\nWednesday from Echegaray to Manila's influential archbishop,
\nJaime Cardinal Sin, claiming innocence and asking the cardinal to
\nhelp save his life.<\/p>\n
\"What if the truth comes out and I'm already dead?\" Echegaray
\nwrote in the letter.<\/p>\n
Churches throughout the Philippines, Asia's only predominately
\nCatholic country, have been instructed to peal their bells at 3
\np.m. Friday, the time of Echegaray's scheduled execution at a
\nspecial death chamber outside the prison walls.<\/p>\n
A prayer vigil is also scheduled at a nearby chapel.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rp-jails-brace-for-riots-on-execution-day-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }