Philippines abolishes death penalty

President of the Philippines Gloria Arroyo on Saturday signed a law abolishing death penalty ahead of a planned trip to the Vatican. The law automatically commuted the sentence of about 1,200 death row inmates in country to life imprisonment.

A tired-looking Arroyo received senior legislators at the presidential palace to sign the law, which abolished a 1994 statute that mandated capital punishment for so-called 8216;8216;heinous crimes.8217;8217; She later shook hands with the lawmakers and members of the diplomatic corps but did not make a speech.

Arroyo, 58, had been rushed to hospital late Thursday after a bout of vomiting and stomach pains, which doctors diagnosed as 8216;8216;acute infectious diarrhoea8217;8217;, and was released early today.

Her chief aide, executive secretary Eduardo Ermita, told reporters she was 8216;8216;taking it easy8217;8217; and 8216;8216;making preparations8217;8217; for her trip to the Vatican, Italy and Spain, which was set to begin tomorrow.