The imposition of the death penalty in the country has had a repressive

history. For the most part (from 1848 to 1987), it was used to curtail the liberties,
freedoms and rights of the Filipino people. In recent history, however, the death
penalty was reimposed as a knee-jerk response to what has largely been seen as
rising criminality in the country. The following, with help from the Mamamayang
Tutol sa Bitay-Movement for Restorative Justice, traces the death penaltys historical
roots and context in Philippine society:
Spanish Period (1521-1898)
Spanish colonizers brought with them medieval Europes penal system,
including executions. Capital punishment during the early Spanish Period took
various forms including burning, decapitation, drowning, flaying, garrote, hanging,
shooting, stabbing and others. Capital punishment was enshrined in the 1848
Spanish Codigo Penal and was only imposed on locals who challenged the
established authority of the colonizers. Between 1840-1857, recorded death
sentences totaled 1,703 with 46 actual executions.Filipinos who were meted the
death penalty include Magat Salamat (1587); the native clergies Gomez, Burgos and
Zamora who were garroted in 1872; and Dr. Jose Rizal, executed on December 30,
1896. All of them are now enshrined as heroes.
American Period (1898-1934)
The American colonizers, adopting most of the provisions under the Codigo
Penal of 1848, retain the death penalty. The Codigo Penal was revised in 1932.
Treason, parricide, piracy, kidnapping, murder, rape, and robbery with homicide
were considered capital offenses and warranted the death penalty. The Sedition Law
(1901); Brigandage Act (1902); Reconcentration Act (1903); and Flag Law (1907)
were enacted to sanction the use of force, including death, against all nationalist
Filipinos. Macario Sakay was one of those sentenced to die for leading a resistance
group. He was sentenced to die by public hanging. The capital punishment
continued to be an integral part of the pacification process of the country, to
suppress any resistance to American authority.
Japanese Occupation (1941-1945)
There are no recorded or documented cases of executions through the death
penalty during this period simply because extrajudicial executions were widely
practised as part of the pacification of the country.
Post-World War II
Espionage is added to the list of capital offenses. The Anti-Subversion Law
called for the death penalty for all Communist leaders. However, no executions were
recorded for any captured communist leader. For the period of 1946-1965, 35
people were executed for offenses that the Supreme Court labeled as crimes of
senseless depravity or extreme criminal perversity.

The Marcos Years (1965-1986)

Deterrence became the official justification for the imposition of the death
penalty. This is the same justification used for the declaration of Martial Law in
1972. The number of capital crimes increased to a total of 24. Some crimes which
were made punishable by death through laws and decrees during the Marcos period
were subversion, possession of firearms, arson, hijacking, embezzlement, drugrelated offenses, unlawful possession of firearms, illegal fishing and cattle rustling.
Jaime Jose, Basilio Pineda, and Edgardo Aquino were executed for the gang rape of
movie star Maggie dela Riva in 1972. Despite prohibitions against public executions,
the execution of the three was done in full view of the public. Nineteen executions
took place during the Pre-Martial Law period. Twelve were executed during Martial
Law. Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. was sentenced to die by firing squad for charges of
murder, subversion and illegal possession of firearm in 1977. The last judicial
execution under the Marcos years was in October 1976 when Marcelo San Jose was
executed by electrocution. Similar to the reasons for the imposition of capital
punishment during the Colonial Periods, the death penalty during the Marcos
Regime was imposed to quell rebellion and social unrest.
President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino (1986-1992)
The Death Penalty was abolished under the 1987 Constitution. The Philippines
became the first Asian country to abolish the death penalty for all crimes. All death
sentences were reduced to reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment. In 1988, the
military started lobbying for the imposition of the death penalty for crimes
committed by the CPP-NPA.
President Fidel Valdez Ramos (1993-1998)
A series of high profile crimes during this period, including the murder of
Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez, created public impression that heinous crimes
were on the rise. The Ramos administration reimposed the death penalty by virtue
of Republic Act No. 7659 in December 1993 to address the rising criminality and
incidence of heinous crimes. The Death Penalty Law lists a total of 46 crimes
punishable by death; 25 of these are death mandatory while 21 are death eligible.
Republic Act No. 8177 mandates that a death sentence shall be carried out through
lethal injection.
President Joseph Ejercito Estrada (1998-2001)
Leo Echegaray was executed in February 1999 and was followed by six other
executions for various heinous crimes. In 1999, the bumper year for executions, the
national crime volume, instead of abating, ironically increased by 15.3 percent or a
total of 82,538 (from 71,527 crimes in the previous year). Estrada issued a de
facto moratorium on executions in the face of church-led campaigns to abolish the
death penalty and in observance of the Jubilee Year.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001-present)

Arroyo publicly stated that she is not in favor of executions. Due to the rise in
crimes related to drugs and kidnappings that targeted the Filipino-Chinese
community, she announced that she would resume executions to sow fear into the
hearts of criminals. Arroyo lifted the de facto moratorium issued by Estrada on
December 5, 2003. Even as executions were set to resume on January 2004, this did
not push through by virtue of a Supreme Court decision to reopen the Lara-Licayan
case. Since then, the administration has been issuing reprieves on scheduled
executions without actually issuing a moratorium.With the amendment of Republic
Act No. 8353 (Anti-Rape Law of 1997) andRepublic Act No. 9165 (Comprehensive
Dangerous Drugs act of 2002), there are now 52 capital offenses, 30 of which are
death mandatory and 22 are death eligible.