At A Glance
- The House of Representatives has adopted a recommendation from the quad-committee (quad-comm) to revive the imposition of death penalty or capital punishment in the country.
Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (PPAB)
The House of Representatives has adopted a recommendation from the quad-committee (quad-comm) to revive the imposition of death penalty or capital punishment in the country.
This recommendation is contained in Committee Report No.1501, which was sponsored in plenary by quad-comm overall chairman Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers on Tuesday, June 10.
It was adopted by the 300-plus strong chamber that same day.
In its recommendations, the special four-way panel specifically sought a review of Republic Act (RA) No. 9346 also known as An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of the Death Penalty in the Philippines.
The Barbers panel sought to revive the imposition of the death penalty for persons convicted f heinous crimes and include in the definition of heinous crimes certain violations of RA No. 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, as amended by RA 10640.
The death penalty was abolished in 2006 during the time of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Since August 2024, the quad-comm has been looking into the alleged interconnected issues of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), extrajudicial killings (EJKs), money-laundering, illegal drugs, and former president Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs.
The highest profile witness or resource person who attended the 15 marathon hearings held by the joint panel was ex-president Duterte himself.
In his personal capacity, Barbers been pursuing the reimposition of death penalty or capital punishment in the Philippines since the 11th Congress, albeit only for drug cases.
Lethal injection was the method used the last time that death penalty was carried out in the Philippines.