President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo arrived Friday with 20-million Euros (about P1.2 billion) worth of investments from Spanish conglomerate Grupo Leche Pascual and a solid assurance from Spanish King Juan Carlos I that he will intervene to spare Filipina worker Jakatia Pawa from the death sentence in Kuwait.

Arriving from a five-day country swing in the US and Spain, Mrs. Arroyo also received the prestigious Premio Don Quixote de la Mancha from the Spanish King at the Palacio de la Zarzuela for promoting the restoration of teaching the Spanish language in schools in the Philippines.

Arroyo said that she got the assurance from the Spanish king to intercede for the commutation of Pawa’s sentence, during a private meeting.

“King Juan Carlos I conveyed his willingness to help on this matter,” Mrs. Arroyo’s three-page arrival statement said.

Pawa was sentenced to death for stabbing to death the 22-year-old daughter of her Kuwaiti employer on May 14, 2007. Her death sentence was upheld by the Kuwaiti government last January 19.

The King of Spain, who visited the Philippines several times, has interceded in saving the lives of Filipino workers Marilou Ranario and May Vecina. Vecina was found guilty of slitting the throat of her six-year-old ward in April, 2008.

Through the King’s intervention, Kuwaiti Emir Sheik Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah last year signed the Amiri decrees that lowered the death sentences slapped on Vecina and Ranario.

The Chief Executive had a private meeting with the King and meet with members of the Royal Family, including Queen Sofia to tackle and assess the “dynamic and special” bilateral partnership between the Philippines and Spain.