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Philippines Moves Closer to Reinstating Death Penalty

By Felipe Villamor

• March 1, 2017

MANILA — The Philippine House of Representatives approved a proposal on Wednesday to reinstate the death penalty, paving the way for capital punishment to be restored more than a decade after it was abolished.

The bill, which would primarily allow drug-related offenses to be punishable by death, reflects President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign pledge to end crime and corruption.

Since Mr. Duterte took office in June, thousands of people suspected of being drug addicts or pushers have been killed by police officers or vigilantes as part of that pledge .

To become law, the death penalty bill must face a largely symbolic third reading in the House, which is controlled by allies of the president, before going to the Senate, also controlled by people close to Mr. Duterte. The bill would then have to be signed by the president.

House leaders had called for a voice vote on Wednesday, and advocates of reinstating the death penalty drowned out those opposing the measure.

“We lost. The next battleground is the Senate,” said Harry Roque, a lawmaker who voted against the measure.

Another opponent of the bill, Antonio Tinio, suggested that little time had been given to debate about the bill. “It is definitely unacceptable to railroad the passage of the death penalty bill because for burning issues such as this, congressional deliberations are not just for its members alone — they are also for the people,” he said.

Under the proposal, so-called heinous crimes would be punishable by death. Those include some forms of rape and murder, as well as drug offenses including the import, sale, manufacture, delivery and distribution of narcotics.

Drug possession would carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Capital punishment would typically be carried out by hanging, firing squad or lethal injection, according to the bill.

Once the measure reaches the Senate, legislators are expected to await a ruling by the Justice Department on whether it contravenes the country’s commitment to international conventions. But the justice secretary, Vitaliano Aguirre II, is a fraternity brother of Mr. Duterte’s, and he is not expected to oppose the act.

Senator Bam Aquino promised that lawmakers in the upper chamber would debate the bill but acknowledged that blocking it would be difficult.

The proposed law, he said, goes against the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , which the country ratified in 1986. The convention prevents parties from carrying out execution as a form of punishment.

“This issue is so serious,” he said. “The debates should not be rushed, so the public can listen to the arguments in the Senate.”

The politically influential Roman Catholic Church, which Mr. Duterte has criticized for opposing his policies, has been at the forefront of the fight against the law.

Bishops said in a letter that was read in all churches last month that they “unequivocally oppose proposals and moves to return the death penalty into the Philippine legal system.”

“We regret that there are strident efforts to restore the death penalty,” the letter said. “Though the crime be heinous, no person is ever beyond redemption, and we have no right ever giving up on any person.”

It continued: “When we condemn violence, we cannot ourselves be its perpetrators, and when we decry murder, we cannot ourselves participate in murder, no matter that it may be accompanied by the trappings of judicial and legal process.”

The government is a party to international conventions against the death penalty, the church said, and has a duty to follow international opinions opposing the law.

Human rights experts denounced the decision by the House of Representatives.

“This is a major step backward for the Philippines,” Carlos H. Conde, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who covers the country. He added, “This further erodes the already horrendous human rights situation in the Philippines.”

The International Drug Policy Consortium , a network of nongovernmental organizations that focus on issues related to drug production, trafficking and use, had called on Congress to oppose the measure.

The consortium also called on lawmakers to ensure proportionate sentencing of drug offenses.

The death penalty was abolished in 1987, but President Fidel Ramos reinstated it in 1993, citing “crime control.” President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo suspended capital punishment in 2006.

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International Federation for Human Rights

Plans to reinstate the death penalty must be abandoned.

• Death Penalty

(Paris, Manila) Philippine parliamentarians must shelve proposed draft legislation aimed at reinstating the death penalty in the country’s legal system, FIDH and its member organization Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) urged today. The Philippines abolished capital punishment for all crimes in 2006.

“Legislators must resist the temptation to conclude that the restoration of the death penalty will provide an effective tool to combat crime. Their job is to ensure that new laws comply with international treaties that the Philippines has ratified.”

On 9 November, the House of Representatives’ subcommittee on judicial reforms began discussing seven bills that seek to re-impose the death penalty for so-called ‘heinous crimes’ - a broad, unclear, and ill-defined notion, not a legal category. As of 6 September 2016, members of the Congress had introduced at least 16 bills to either repeal existing legislation that prohibited the death penalty or make a number of crimes punishable by death.

As for the executive branch, President Rodrigo Duterte, elected on 9 May 2016, has vowed to reinstate the death penalty for a wide range of crimes, with a particular focus on crimes involving drugs. Other crimes for which Duterte said the death penalty would be reinstated include rape, robbery, and kidnapping that resulted in the victims’ death.

Enacting legislation to reinstate the death penalty is inconsistent with the Philippines’ obligations under international law, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. The Philippines is a state party to both human rights instruments.

Article 6 of the ICCPR guarantees every human being’s “inherent right to life.” In addition, it prescribes that in countries that have not abolished capital punishment, the death penalty may be imposed only for the “most serious crimes,” a threshold that international jurisprudence has repeatedly stated drug-related offenses do not meet. The Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR imposes an obligation on state parties to the convention to refrain from carrying out executions. In addition, the UN Human Rights Committee has affirmed that state parties cannot denounce or withdraw from the ICCPR or its Second Optional Protocol.  [ 1 ]

“In addition to promoting an atmosphere of vigilantism that has led to the unlawful killing of thousands of Filipinos in the name of the war on drugs, President Duterte’s administration has backed the reinstatement of state-sanctioned killing. It’s time for lawmakers to push back against such folly and reaffirm respect for human rights and the rule of law as the only way forward.”

FIDH and PAHRA call on the Philippines to respect its international legal obligations by dropping the proposed bills aimed at the reintroduction of the death penalty. FIDH and PAHRA also urge the Philippines to vote in favor of the upcoming UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution – due to be voted on in December 2016 – that calls for a moratorium on executions.

FIDH, a member of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP), reiterates its total opposition to the death penalty for all crimes and in all circumstances.

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A Philosophical Analysis on the Reinstatement of Death Penalty (Using Rule Utilitarianism)

Related Papers

Jb Brothers

In the long history of the Philippines, the death penalty was known and accepted fact. The code of Kalantiao, the oldest recorded body of laws of our early ancestors showed the strictness under the barangay that existed and based their moral acceptance of right and wrong. For example, anyone caught stealing would be penalized by suffering the loss of finger. The graver the theft, the more fingers were cut and if the theft was very grave, the hands was chopped off, therefore it is understandable that even in the Early periods of our history there are certain punishment for a offense, that even the code of Kalantiao imposed death penalty for rape and murder that is considered as heinous crime. Today, the State itself has different punishment opposite to its offence, our legislators implement and pass a Bill that will sentenced a grave offender of crime, one of it is the Republic Act No. 7659 or the Death Penalty Act which gathers many controversies on its implementation, according to this act a criminal who has been proven guilty to a heinous crime with the proper due process of law will be executed.

Pauline Tracy Batiles

Johndaryl Moreno

Journal of Genocide Research

Dahlia Simangan

Since the newly elected Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte took office in June 2016, more than 7,000 deaths have been linked to his ongoing “war on drugs.” Despite international condemnation of extrajudicial and vigilante killings, the statistics show no sign of slowing down and the administration remains firm in eradicating people engaged in illegal drugs. This article inquires whether the Philippine “war on drugs” is an act of genocide using Gregory H. Stanton’s stages of genocide. Based on data drawn from news articles, policy issuances, government briefings, public speeches and available drug-related statistics, this article argues that Duterte’s rhetoric and policies satisfy the stages of classification, symbolization, dehumanization, organization, polarization, preparation, extermination and denial. The analysis in this article hopes to send a message to the international community, civil society and the Philippine government that the human rights situation related to the “war on drugs” in the Philippines needs to be addressed immediately. It also aims to demonstrate the utility of Stanton’s stages in identifying early warning signs of genocide.

alyssa apacible

Maria Jeneslie Tambo

International Comparative, Policy & Ethics Law Review

Michelle Miao

This article examines the penal construction of drug-related offenses as ‘the most serious offenses’ in the context of ‘Asian values’. It explains that there are at least three ways in which the serious nature of drug-related criminality is constructed – populism, moral culpability and security − all of which are deeply embedded in the political culture and practices in Asian countries which adopt a punitive approach to drug-related offenses. The article explores social and political discourses in support of state reliance on harsh penal sanctions to tackle complex drug-related problems. It shows that these discourses are frequently exploited and distorted for political motives. The article concludes that ‘Asian values’ can neither provide valid rationales for the campaigns of ‘war on drugs’ or offer solid justification for the erosion of the rights, liberty, and life of those who are involved in the ‘war’ against illicit drugs.

Daniel Pascoe

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House to revive death penalty hearings this week

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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

The House committee on justice is set to begin debates on the return of the death penalty for certain heinous crimes on Wednesday, August 5.

The House panel scheduled the hearing for at least 12 death penalty bills filed in the lower chamber less than 2 weeks after President Rodrigo Duterte once again asked lawmakers to reinstate capital punishment via lethal injection for drug-related crimes in his 5th State of the Nation Address on July 27. 

House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez already promised “thorough” debates on possibly sentencing drug convicts to death – signaling the leadership’s decision to hold these controversial hearings right in the middle of the coronavirus crisis. (READ: Duterte’s fight vs oligarchs, death penalty bill to distract Congress during pandemic )

Pro-death penalty bill legislators believe the return of the death penalty will not only be a way to exact payment from criminals, but supposedly also deter people from committing heinous crimes. (READ: An eye for an eye: Can the death penalty bring justice to victims? )

Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers, a principal author, already slammed critics of the death penalty bill over their “clamor for the human rights of offenders.”

“Unfortunately, while they talk about the human rights of the offenders, they remarkably skip talking about and defending the human rights of the victims,” Barbers said in a statement on July 31.

Barbers also disregarded the international treaties the Philippines have earlier ratified prohibiting the death penalty’s return once the legislation is already repealed. These are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 2 Optional Protocols.

“No country can dictate on another on how to run its affairs.  No amount of treaties and international agreements can take away the inherent right of one nation to govern within its territory, over its people.  Last time I checked too, this is called sovereignty.  That is why we have our own Constitution – and it allows death penalty,” Barbers said. 

Capital punishment was abolished in 2006 under the presidency of former House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a trusted ally of Duterte.

This is not the first time the House pushed for the death penalty under the Duterte presidency. In 2017, the lower chamber green-lighted the bill punishing drug-related crimes with death , but the measure was dead on arrival at the Senate. 

Another uphill climb?

But much like in 2017, it will be another uphill climb for the death penalty bills in Congress – even it is dominated by Duterte allies.

Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman, one of the lawmakers who staunchly fought against the death penalty revival 3 years ago, once again slammed the proposal.

The veteran lawyer turned lawmaker said the measure is an “affront to human dignity,” arguing there is no available empirical data proving the claim that capital punishment would stop criminals from committing heinous crimes. 

Lagman also said reviving capital punishment would only worsen the culture of impunity in Duterte’s bloody drug war, where thousands of drug suspects have been killed in legitimate police operations and vigilante-style killings. 

“The death penalty desecrates the right to life which is sacrosanct and inviolable, and it is an affront to human dignity… The death penalty exacerbates the culture of violence and its revival adds to the unabated extrajudicial killings consequent to the Duterte administration’s deadly campaign against the drug menace,” Lagman said in a statement on July 31.

Muntinlupa Representative Ruffy Biazon – the first to file a death penalty bill in the current 18th Congress – also believes it is not the right time to pursue the measure.

He said the government should first focus on strengthening evidence-gathering of law enforcement before thinking about the death penalty’s return.

“I filed a bill, HB (House Bill) 5408, proposing the establishment of single-party recording in pursuing against drug traffickers. In the United States, this is a widely used tool in the fight against drug trafficking which led to high number of arrests and high percentage of successful prosecution,” Biazon said on August 1.

“The penalty is important. But even before the penalty, a successful prosecution is much more important,” he added .

Senate President Vicente Sotto III already said the death penalty bills would pass only if the punishment is reserved for drug lords . 

Senator Nancy Binay also said Congress is in no business of talking about the death penalty now that Filipinos are still dying of COVID-19.

Confirmed cases are steadily surging in the country, with the Philippines tallying over 98,000 COVID-19 cases so far . Experts estimate t he numbers may go as high as 150,000 by end of August if quarantine measures are not properly implemented. – Rappler.com

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