The World - News from May 6, 1985

President Ferdinand E. Marcos of the Philippines issued decrees abolishing the death penalty and life imprisonment as penalties for subversion. Marcos imposed the penalties four years ago when he lifted martial law. The official Philippine News Agency said Marcos also abolished loss of citizenship and forfeiture of the assets of those convicted of subversion. A government spokesman called the decrees a “calibrated response of the president to the needs of the time.”