Capital punishment in the Philippines

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Capital punishment in the Philippines has a varied history and, as of June 24, 2006, is illegal.

Capital punishment was first abolished in the Philippines in 1987 through changes to the Constitution; it was the first country in Asia to abolish capital punishment. It was reinstated in December 1993 through Republic Act No. 7659, which allowed capital punishment for "heinous crimes" following claims of a national crime spree. In 1999 the lethal injection was approved as the method of execution through Republic Act No. 8177. On March 24, 2000 President Joseph Estrada called for a moratorium on executions to honour the birth of Christ;^[1] executions were resumed a year later.

Capital punishment was reabolished through Republic Act No. 9346, which was signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on June 24, 2006. The bill followed a vote held in Congress earlier in the same month which overwhelmingly supported that the practice be abolished.^[2] The penalties of life imprisonment and reclusion perpetua (indeterminate sentence, 30-year minimum) replaced the death penalty.^[3] The sentences of the 1,230 death row inmates were commuted to life imprisonment in April, in what Amnesty International believes to be the "largest ever commutation of death sentences".^[4]

[edit] Methods

Philippines was the only country except the United States, which used the electric chair (1923-1976).

After reintroduction of the death penalty in the 1990s country switched to lethal injection.

[edit] See also

• Paco Larrañaga

[edit] References

1. ^ Amnesty International. Death Penalty News March 2000
2. ^ Jansen, Jamie. June 6, 2006 Philippines Congress votes to end capital punishment, The Jurist
3. ^ Sun Star Cebu. 25 June, 2006. Arroyo kills death law
4. ^ Amnesty International, April 19 2006 Philippines: Largest ever commutation of death sentences

• Lamban, S. 2000. Death Penalty in the Philippines