Estrada commutes death sentences, frees dissidents

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BACOLOD, Philippines (Reuters) -- President Joseph Estrada, threatened with removal from office on corruption charges, ordered on Sunday the release of all political prisoners and the scrapping of death sentences imposed by the courts.

Fighting for his political life, the former movie actor made the announcement during a visit to central Negros island where he also presided over the signing of a peace pact between his embattled government and a breakaway communist rebel faction.

Speaking at a mass in the provincial capital Bacolod, Estrada said he had ordered the Justice Department to begin processing the release papers of the country's more than 200 political prisoners so that they would be freed "before Christmas."

"Aside from that...I will order tomorrow all those who are sentenced to death will all be commuted to life imprisonment," the former movie actor added, setting off a thunderous ovation from hundreds of Catholic faithful packed inside the church.

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Directive would affect 1,200 prisoners

Estrada said he had decided on the move -- which coincided with International Human Rights Day -- in line with the church celebration this year of the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The presidential directive would affect more than 1,200 prisoners who have been sentenced to die by lethal injection since the country restored capital punishment in 1994.

Some analysts dismissed the presidential announcement as intended to mollify the country's powerful Roman Catholic Church, which has led calls for Estrada to resign. Church leaders say he has lost his moral authority to govern.

The church has also stoutly opposed the restoration of the death penalty in the Philippines. Since it was reinstituted, seven death row prisoners have been executed.

Impeachment proceedings begin again Monday

Estrada, first Asian head of state to be impeached, is facing an array of charges in his impeachment trial in the Senate, including bribery and corruption for allegedly taking hefty bribes from illegal gambling syndicates and pocketing excise taxes intended for tobacco farmers.

He has denied the charges and said he is confident he will be acquitted during his trial.

"This is to appease everybody, especially the church. It buys him some goodwill but the question of wrongdoing remains," Alex Magno, political science professor of the University of the Philippines, told Reuters.

"He is on a full-throttled public relations mode but it is unlikely that the (church) will change its demand for him to resign," Magno added.

Plunging into his rural bailiwick while opponents in Manila asked for his head, Estrada flew by helicopter to the farming town of Salvador Benedicto and witnessed the signing of a peace agreement between the government and the leftist Alex Boncayao Brigade, a breakaway faction of the Philippine Communist Party.

The splinter group has been linked to the killings over the past decade of scores of local officials, soldiers and police alleged to have committed abuses against civilians.

Manila's talks with the main Communist Party collapsed last year after the rebels accused the government of violating preliminary agreements.

The military estimates communist rebel strength at over 10,000. The communists have been fighting for a Marxist state for 30 years. More than 40,000 people have died in the insurgency war.

Estrada's trial is to resume on Monday.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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President Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estrada
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