Busy Signal Foils Clemency for Doomed Rapist

MANILA — Philippine President Joseph Estrada changed his mind Friday about whether to save a convicted rapist from execution, but it was too late: His telephone call went through one minute after Eduardo Agbayani was pronounced dead.

A nagging busy signal and the telltale scratch-and-beep of an engaging fax machine blocked Estrada from informing prison officials of his last-minute decision.

Thus did Agbayani, 51, convicted of raping his own daughter, become the Philippines’ second execution since it restored capital punishment in 1994, Estrada’s spokesman said.

Estrada, who had said earlier Friday that he would not grant a reprieve, changed his mind just five minutes before the scheduled start of the lethal injection after emotional appeals from one of the defendant’s daughters and a Catholic bishop.

“The president said he would stop it,” Bishop Teodoro Bacani said after talking to Estrada by telephone. “We were very happy.”

But a few minutes later Estrada called back and said telephone lines to the prison had been busy or gave a fax tone, he said.

“I’m sorry, we were too late,” he quoted Estrada as saying.