June 25, 1999
Web posted at: 4:23 a.m. EST (0923 GMT)

MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- A Philippine man was put to death on Friday for the rape of his 14-year-old daughter, only the second execution in the country since capital punishment was reinstated in 1994.

The execution of Eduardo Agbayani stirred little of the nationwide debate that accompanied the first execution in February.

Agbayani, 51, was initially charged with raping two of his daughters in Bulacan province in 1994. The daughters, however, withdrew from the case, leading to his release.

A few months later, he allegedly raped another daughter, who was then 14, and was convicted and sentenced to die for that crime.

Bing, Agbayani's eldest daughter, appealed tearfully Friday for President Joseph Estrada to save her father's life.

"I am appealing to you ... for forgiveness for my father and to lower his sentence," she said in a radio interview. "We are not asking that he be freed because my father also has to suffer and pay for his crime."

Estrada, who rejected a last-minute appeal for clemency on Thursday, was unmoved by the pleas of Bing and another daughter just hours before the execution.

Estrada has previously granted reprieves to seven men whose executions were set between April and June to allow investigators time to check claims the men are innocent.

The Philippines abolished capital punishment in 1987 but reimposed it in 1994 in response to widespread crime. Since then, more than 900 people have been sentenced to death.

The first person executed under the new law, a housepainter convicted of raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter, was put to death in February after months of legal battles and emotional debate. The Philippines received pleas from the Vatican, Canada, European Union and human rights groups not to resume capital punishment.