Still, capital punishment has long been a pliable political issue in the Philippines, one of the few countries to have reinstated the death penalty in the past 20 years.

In late 2003, Mrs Arroyo bowed to public anger over a wave of kidnappings targeting the ethnic Chinese community and lifted a moratorium on the death penalty imposed by her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, four years earlier. In particular, the abduction and murder of a young Coca-Cola executive, Betti Chua Sy, whose body was found in a garbage bag in a Manila suburb, incensed the nation.

Although Filipino-Chinese citizens make up just 1 per cent of the population, its business community has blossomed. The empires of tycoons, such as Lucio Tan and John Gokongwei, now rival those of the traditional Hispanic business elites. But that prosperity has made the community targets for kidnapping syndicates: Mr Gokongwei's son-in-law was abducted nearly 10 years ago, and died in a shoot-out as police tried to rescue him. Kidnapping is a capital crime and close to 200 kidnappers are on death row. The Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce was not available for comment on Mrs Arroyo's decision.

Estrada also wavered on the death penalty. The former actor initially adopted an uncompromising pro-death penalty stance. But he softened when corruption scandals threatened his presidency. At the urging of the church, Estrada declared a moratorium on executions in 1999.

Associations supporting victims of violent crimes are angered by Mrs Arroyo's decision. Dante Jimenez, who founded Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption after his brother was killed by a drug syndicate seven years ago, said that although Mrs Arroyo had the right to commute death sentences under the constitution, the death penalty should be carried out for heinous crimes. 'We were very surprised by this sweeping commutation of sentences. The victims believe the law must be upheld.'

Seven people have been executed in the Philippines since 2003. The method of death is lethal injection, carried out in the national penitentiary of New Bilibid in the capital's Muntinlupa City.

While choosing one of the two most important dates in the Christian calendar to commute the sentences may seem fitting for the leader of the Vatican's bastion in Asia, the timing has nevertheless raised eyebrows.

Mrs Arroyo has much to gain from getting into the church's good books. Her presidency is being assailed by allegations that she cheated in the 2004 elections. The opposition from the left and right wants Mrs Arroyo to resign or call a snap election, and is trying to form a united front against her. And opposition lawmakers plan to mount a second impeachment attempt against her in the coming months.

The extent of the church's support for the president is hard to gauge, but the powerful Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has voiced its opposition to a signature drive to change the constitution by a referendum - a blow to Mrs Arroyo, who strongly supports the campaign.

'She really did this to win over the bishops,' said Benito Lim, a political scientist at Manila's Ateneo University. For Professor Lim, commuting death sentences will find favour among the liberal middle-class, but not the majority of poor Filipinos. 'These are the people seeing all the killing, violence and brutality, and they support the death penalty.'

But the administration insists Mrs Arroyo isn't trying to make political capital. 'The president is not seeking nor does she expect any political returns for her decision. In fact, she's taking heavy political flak for it,' said palace spokesman Ignacio Bunye.

The Philippines abolished capital punishment in 1987 in the aftermath of Ferdinand Marcos' ousting. But this never sat easily with public opinion: Filipinos want tough-on-crime administrations, and generally view the death penalty as a deterrent, regardless of the church's opposition. In 1994, former president Fidel Ramos, a veteran military commander, reinstated the death penalty for 46 separate crimes.

Fed on a relentless diet of gruesome reports of murder, rape and kidnappings by the tabloid press and TV stations, many Filipinos believe the country is sinking in violent crime - but only the poor get sent to prison. Last year, there were on average 17 murders a day in the Philippines, according to Philippine National Police statistics.

Around half of those on death row are convicted rapists. Liza Maza, a congresswoman for the Gabriela Women's Party (GWP), which campaigns for women's rights, said poverty and a deep-rooted culture of treating women as mere sex objects was responsible for the high incidence of rape in the Philippines.

'We are against the death penalty; it's no deterrent,' said Ms Maza, adding that only raising awareness that violence against women was inhumane would change attitudes.

It was during Estrada's presidency that the Philippines carried out its first execution in 23 years, when house painter Leo Echegaray was put to death by lethal injection in February 1999 for raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter. There were six other executions carried out during Estrada's presidency, most for rape.

No executions have been carried out in the Philippines since the moratorium on the death penalty was lifted three years ago.

According to Maria Socorro Diokno, secretary-general of the Free Legal Assistance Group, prior to commuting the death sentences, Mrs Arroyo issued on a rolling basis three-month stays of execution for inmates convicted of capital offences - other than kidnapping and drug crimes - once their sentences had been upheld by the Supreme Court, which reviews all death sentences. 'They do that because there is an astounding margin of error in these cases by the lower courts,' says Ms Diokno, noting that the highest court commutes 70 per cent of death sentences.

Mrs Arroyo's gesture to those on death row doesn't mean that capital punishment has been removed from the statute book. A bill abolishing capital punishment has, in fact, been languishing in congress for several years, pushed aside by more pressing legislation.

The CBCP is now calling on Mrs Arroyo to abolish capital punishment altogether. If that happens, the Philippines will be among the small group of countries in Asia - Bhutan, Cambodia, East Timor, Nepal and a clutch of tiny Pacific nations - to abolish the death penalty.