MANILA - The mother of Eileen Sarmenta on Monday said she now prefers life imprisonment over death penalty for heinous criminals.

Maria Clara Sarmenta, in a previous news report, said she supports the revival of the capital punishment following the possible release of Antonio Sanchez, who was convicted in 1995 of raping and killing her daughter.

"At the spur of the moment I said I agreed to restoring the death penalty. But then when I thought it over, being a Christian I would rather have the life sentence because in death penalty, it's only one injection, tapos na (then it's done)," Sarmenta said during a joint hearing of the Senate justice and Blue Ribbon committees.

"In the life sentence, the prisoner would be given the chance to be reformed and also the mere fact that he suffers, he should be suffering for the crime he did."

Sanchez was sentenced to 7 reclusion perpetua terms (40 years each) for the 1993 rape-slay of Eileen and the torture-killing of her companion Allan Gomez.

• 'No remorse, no compensation': Looming release of rapist-murderer pains victims' mothers

His supposed release due to a new law increasing the good conduct time allowance for inmates and a Supreme Court decision applying this law retroactively was met with public outrage.

• Online outrage: 'Let rapist-murderer Sanchez spend his lifetime in jail'