Chapter 7: The condemned man

The Death Penalty: PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES V. LEO ECHEGARAY (aka Agent 037 jk labyu forgive my insufferable humor)

Leo Echegaray (11 July 1960 - 5 February 1999) was the first Filipino to be meted the death penalty after its reinstatement in the Philippines in 1993, some 23 years after the last judicial execution was carried out. His death sparked national debate over the legality and morality of the death penalty, which was later suspended on 15 April 2006. (wiki)

A house painter, Leo’s case is the first one filed and decided after congress enacted death penalty in late 1993. The framers of the 1987 Consti had been divided over capital punishment and had left it to Congress to resolve the issue .

Echegaray was accused of the rape of his lover’s 10 yr old daughter, Rodessa (nicknamed Baby), although there was speculation that he might be innocent. It was not established when the crime had occurred and the role Echegaray played in the family. The lower courts had initially identified him as “stepfather” to the victim, who carried the same last name.

The SC ruled that even if he were not the father of Rodessa, his disclaimer cannot save him from the abyss perpetuators of heinous crimes ought to be mandated by law. Leo is the confirmed lover of Rodessa’s mom so he falls squarely within the portion of death penalty under the term “common-law spouse”.

The year Leo was executed, rape cases rose from 290 from 261 the previous year.

He was convicted by Branch 104 of the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City on 7 September 1994, with the death sentence automatically reviewed by the Supreme Court and affirmed on 25 June 1996. Echegaray filed a motion for appeal, which was denied on 19 January 1999. Less than a month later, Echegaray was executed via lethal injection on 5 February 1999

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In Feb. 1997, Leo’s death sentence was affirmed by the Court.

SC did not set any hearing for the case Decision is written per curiam withholding the identity of the 15 justices among whom 3 held

dissenting opinions (chos hello justice panganiban) Under the law, the prescribed date of execution is one year after the final SC decision but

Leo’s case took one more year bec. of public debates Leo quote: Sayang! (when his execution was postponed from Jan to Feb.)

Leo Echegaray

Was a quiet man with solitary tendencies a blue-collar worker from San Francisco del Monte in QC 38 yrs. Old

Final Countdown: Feb 5, 1999

Last meal @11:30 am—shrimps and chix drumsticks Means of bitay: lethal injection Bp: 100/70

Zeny ( a woman whom he loved and married) and Tess (his sister) and Monsignor Robert Olaguer (his friend and spiritual mentor in jail) were with him

His lawyer: Atty. Theodore “Teddy” Te o The case fell on his lap by chance since Atty. Te was a member of the Free Legal

Assistance Group (FLAG) which has encouraged the country;’s most prominent human rights lawyers to follow in the footsteps of Diokno.

FLAG set up a task force against the law on capital punishment, loibbying for a repeal of RA 7659 (Death Penalty)

Sec. 19, Art Iii OF 1987 Consti: Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment inflicted. Neither shall death penalty be imposed, unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, the Congress hereafter provides for it. Any death penalty already imposed shall be reduced to reclusion perpetua.

The last time capital punishment served its purpose was at the start of martial law, a Chinese narcotics leader was shot dead by musketry in a public execution. Drugs had been rampant among children of the middle class.

Pero di burgis c leo echegaray! o 2/3 of 165 convicts sentenced to death were poor

o 75% of death-row convictions were made in error by the

lower courtso “Guillotine society” (Panganiban)

Erap didn’t pardon him and Pangulong Mayor Erap (quoting Isko the Tisoy) had the hotline to the death chamber cut. The man who can’t be moved ang peg nya since he resisted pressures for an appeal even from the Pope himself.

Drama: blue curtain was drawn open. Leo lay facing up, arms outstretched as if he would be crucified. Using a black mic which hung above him, he spoke his last words: "Sámbayanáng Pilipino, patawarin ako sa kasalanang ipinaratang ninyo sa akin. Pilipino, pinatáy ng kapwa Pilipino." 

Room: air conditioned with wild cherry freshener. Sa ilalim ng aircon may crucifix and a poster of Jesus Christ.

Phlebotomists’ poison was composed of three chemicals. o They communicated by sign language; when one of them touched the frame of his

eyeglasses, the execution was to proceed Priest: Leo turned to the Bible (Psalm 88)

o Leo would leave a message to his wife that he would communicate with her in the

afterlife through signs by numbers. He would tell her if she was to remarry the right man by the number 037, which if inverted reads LEO.

@ 3PM, Atty. Teddy Te stopped praying the rosary. He stared at Leo for a very long time, watching he tightly shut eye if a man who died in pain. All of him turned purple.

The condemned man was pronounced dead at 3:19 pm.

POSTCRIPT:

By 2000, Erap put the penalty on hold to give honor to the Christian millennium. Gloria hemmed and hawed over the death penalty, commuting some sentences and giving reprieves to other convicts, uncertain of her stand.

In 2006, Gloria signed RA 9346 abolishing the death penalty, saying it was the best pasalubong she could give Pope Benedict XVI.

By then, 1230 na ang nasa death row. Aside from Leo Echegaray and 6 more prisoners, there were no other executions after 1999.