Nathaniel Oducado I - A People vs. Mercado Law violated: Article 267 as amended by Republic Act No.

76591 Provision in question: When the victim is killed or dies as a consequence of the detention or is raped, or is subjected to torture or dehumanizing acts, the maximum penalty shall be imposed." Alleged violation: The death Penalty has most often been used against the poor2 Issue: Whether or not R.A. No. 759 violates the equal protection of laws. Held: No Ratio: It complies with the requisites of a valid classification and applies to the violators of the cited amended laws. Valid Classification Test: 1. Substantial distinction: xxx Anyone regardless of his economic status in life, may commit a crime.3 The distinction is between persons who commit a mentioned crime and those who dont. 2. Germane purpose: As Representative Pablo Garcia, the principal author of the death penalty bill, explained "more than deterrence, x x x is retributive justice."4 3. Applied to present and future condition: The Supreme Court did not mention explicitly the cases wherein R.A. No. 7659 was applied; however, it cited People vs. Echegaray, wherein Death Penalty was imposed upon the defendant. 4. Applied to all in similar class: "Apparently, as it should be, the death penalty law makes no distinction. It applies to all persons and to all classes of persons - rich or poor, educated, or uneducated, religious or non-

An Act to Impose the Death Penalty on Certain Heinous Crimes, Amending for that Purpose the Revised Penal Laws, as amended, Other Special Penal Laws and for Other Purposes, Republic Act No. 7659 (1993). 2 People vs. Mercado, 346 SCRA 257, 275 (2000) 3 Id. 4 Ibid.

Nathaniel Oducado I - A religious. No particular person or classes of persons are identified by the law against whom the death penalty shall be exclusively imposed."5

Id., at 276