Is It Time To Restore the Death Penalty In The Philippines?

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Is it time to restore the death penalty in the Philippines?

This is the matter discussed this Friday in the DZMM “Usapang de Campanilla”  program.

Will the imposition of the death penalty solve the drug problem plaguing the Philippines?

It was January last year that the proposal restoring the death penalty in the Philippines was made.

According to its main author Senator Manny Pacquaio, death must be imposed on people who are proven to be involved in drugs, kidnapping, and rape.

The crime group, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) is in favor of restoring the death penalty.

The group wants to carry out the punishments of death in front of the public to serve as a deterrent to those who want to commit a crime.

death penalty in the philippines

According to Senate President Tito Sotto III, the death penalty should be imposed upon those found guilty of “high-level drug trafficking”.

There is a law called The Heinous Crimes Act of 1993.

This law enumerated the crimes punishable by death, these crimes are:

  • Treason
  • Qualified Piracy
  • Qualified Bribery
  • Parricide
  • Murder
  • Infanticide
  • Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention
  • Robbery when accompanied by rape, homicide, intentional mutilation or arson
  • Destructive Arson
  • Rape
  • Plunder
  • Violations of the Dangerous Drugs Act
  • Carnapping

But a law took effect in 2006 called Republic Act No. 9346 or An Act Prohibiting The Imposition Of Death Penalty In The Philippines.

This law prohibited the imposition of the death penalty in the Philippines.

This law says that In lieu of the death penalty, the following shall be imposed.

  1. The penalty of reclusion perpetua, when the law violated makes use of the nomenclature of the penalties of the Revised Penal Code or
  2. The penalty of life imprisonment, when the law violated does not make use of the nomenclature of the penalties of the Revised Penal Code.

Does the death penalty deter crime in the Philippines?

  1.  Murder rates in places that still have the death penalty exceeded those in places that have abolished it by no less than 42%. (Source: Amnesty International USA)
  2. Some death penalty cases can take up to 20 years. This is due to appeals, which is the safeguard against wrongful convictions. (Source: Death Penalty Information Center on death-row prisoners in the U.S.)
  3. Scientists and studies agree, by an overwhelming majority that the death penalty is not a good deterrent. (Source: Amnesty International USA)
  4. Death penalty cases can be three times more expensive than non-death penalty cases, which is paid for by the government. (Source: Amnesty International USA)