Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo today lifted a moratorium on the death penalty to open the way for executions to resume in January.
The move follows a series of kidnappings targeting the ethnic Chinese community that have added to the perception that Ms Arroyo's government is failing to curb rampant crime.
It also risks alienating her supporters within the powerful Roman Catholic Church ahead of elections next May.
The decision to lift the moratorium she imposed in October 2002 comes only days after Ms Arroyo rejected calls from the Filipino-Chinese community to reimpose capital punishment, saying an effective criminal justice system was the key to fighting crime.
She has wavered over her support for the death penalty because of her strong links to the Catholic Church, whose support was key in the ouster of president Joseph Estrada in January 2001 and her installation as his successor.
Following the Church line, she has opposed calls for stricter birth control to slow the country's rapid population growth.
But the death penalty moratorium has risked making her seem soft on crime in the run-up to next year's election as she trails behind several rivals in early opinion polls.