June 25, 1999
Web posted at: 8:54 a.m. EDT (1254 GMT)

In this story: Philippine man executed; presidential stay too late RELATED STORIES, SITES

MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- Philippine President Joseph Estrada tried to stop Friday's execution of a man convicted of raping his daughter, but busy telephone lines prevented the president's call from reaching the prison in time, officials said.

Eduardo Agbayani was executed as scheduled, becoming the second person put to death since the Philippines restored capital punishment in 1994.

Estrada, who vowed earlier Friday that he would not give a reprieve, changed his mind five minutes before the planned start of the lethal injection, following the emotional pleas of the defendant's daughters and an influential Catholic official.

"The president said he would stop it," Bishop Teodoro Bacani said after speaking by telephone with Estrada.

Yet a few minutes later the president called again to say the telephone lines to the prison had been busy or gave a fax tone, Bacani said.

At Manila's New Bilibid Prison, where Agbayani was executed, prison chief Pedro Sistoza said a call from the palace arrived after Agbayani had already received the lethal injection.

Minutes later two doctors entered the death chamber and one of them pronounced Agbayani dead at 3:11 p.m. (0711 GMT).

"I just followed procedure," he said. "If ever there was a call for me, it should have been before 3 p.m. or at the most, three minutes after three."

Nevertheless, the execution of 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 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.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.