Summary

NAME: PHL DEATHPEN 20060624I TAPE: EF06/0554 IN_TIME: 10:16:50:04 DURATION: 00:01:47:08 SOURCES: AP TELEVISION/ABS-CBN DATELINE: Manila - 24 June 2006 RESTRICTIONS: Part No Access Philippines SHOTLIST: AP Television 1. Wide of Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo walking through room in presidential palace 2. Cutaway of photographers 3. Arroyo signing law abolishing the death penalty 4. Close-up of Arroyo's hand signing 5. People clapping 6. Wide of Arroyo posing with congressmen 7. Medium shot of Arroyo 8. Wide of Arroyo posing with congressmen 9. Cutaway cameraman ABS-CBN -STRICTLY NO ACCESS PHILIPPINES 10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Philippines President: "We shall continue to devote the increasing weight of our resources to the prevention and control of serious crimes, rather than take the lives of those who commit them. I call on the entire criminal justice system, law enforcers, prosecutors, judges, jailers and the whole community to take stock of the responsibility of sharpening law and justice for all." AP Television 11. Arroyo talking with Papal Nuncio Archbishop Fernando Filoni 12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Archbishop Fernando Filoni, Papal Nuncio: "I think that this could be another very important nice step to go on in showing that the culture of life is very alive and important in this country." 13. Arroyo shaking hands with Filoni STORYLINE: Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a law on Saturday abolishing the death penalty on the eve of her trip to the Vatican, but vowed she will not relent in battling terrorists and criminals. "We shall continue to devote the increasing weight of our resources to the prevention and control of serious crimes, rather than take the lives of those who commit them," she said. She called on law enforcers, judges, prosecutors and communities to help shoulder the responsibility of "sharpening law and justice for all". Papal Nuncio Archbishop Fernando Filoni, the Vatican's envoy to Manila, congratulated Arroyo and legislators who approved the measure. "This could be another very important nice step to go on in showing that the culture of life is very alive and important in this country," Filoni said. Congress approved the bill abolishing capital punishment two weeks ago despite protests from anti-crime activists, who believe Arroyo, a staunch Roman Catholic, rushed its approval to please the pope. Arroyo was set to leave for the Vatican on Sunday. The Philippines' 1987 Constitution abolished the death penalty, which the government of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos used to execute about a dozen people convicted of rape and drug charges. But Congress restored the death penalty in late 1993 for crimes such as murder, child rape and kidnapping. Seven people have been executed since then. The lives of more than 1,200 death-row convicts, including at least 11 al-Qaida-linked militants, will be spared due to the abolition of capital punishment. Keyword- Laws