Estrada adamant on execution

Estrada adamant on execution

MANILA (AFP): Philippine President Joseph Estrada on Tuesday shrugged off calls from the European Union and the Vatican to call off the country's first execution in 22 years, saying the sentence would send a "lesson".

"I am very firm with my decision because I know this will serve as a lesson for those who still try to commit rape," Estrada said, adding that "this is one way of teaching them (rapists) a lesson".

He was referring to the impending execution of Leo Echegaray, 38, a housepainter sentenced to death by lethal injection for raping his girlfriend's 11-year-old daughter in 1994.

The European Union and the Vatican have joined the bishops of this largely Roman Catholic nation in calling on Manila to not push through with the execution.