MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) -- The newly wedded wife of a Philippine man awaiting execution for child rape met her husband's victim at a Mass on Monday.
Zenaida Javier, who married Leo Echegaray earlier this month, briefly kissed the 15-year-old girl after the Mass held by Cardinal Jaime Sin, the country's most prominent churchman.A few hours after the service the House of Representatives began a debate on whether it should consider a review of capital punishment, the outcome of which could decide if Echegaray is executed.
Lawmakers said a vote will be taken Monday night or Tuesday. On Tuesday the Supreme Court is due to decide whether to continue a restraining order on the execution.
Sin, who is the archbishop of Manila, called at the special church service for a healing of the wounds inflicted by the controversy and appealed for calm on both sides of the heated debate over the execution sentence.
Reporters watched from a distance as Echegaray's wife kissed the girl through the handkerchief she was using as a veil. The two did not speak to each other.
Both received presents from Sin, a statue of an angel for Echegaray's wife and a wind-up toy for the girl.
Echegaray was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Jan. 4, but just three hours before he was to be put to death the Supreme Court issued a restraining order to allow Congress time to reconsider the death penalty if it wished. The court's decision provoked a barrage of criticism.
The Philippines, a largely Roman Catholic nation, abolished capital punishment in 1987 but reinstated it in 1994 because of a surge in violent crime.
Echegaray, a house painter, was convicted of repeatedly raping his stepdaughter in 1994 when she was 10 years old.
With her face veiled by a handkerchief, she has joined several rallies in recent weeks calling on the Supreme Court to set aside its restraining order. The court is to rule on the order afresh on Tuesday.
Sin appealed for an end to the emotional outbursts on either side of the debate.
"It is the law of the land," he said of the death penalty. "We wanted it to be repealed a long time ago . . . now they are a little bit worried because crimes did not lessen (after the death penalty was re-introduced), it even increased."