What is the RA 9346 in the Philippines?
Asked by: Pierre O'Connell | Last update: February 3, 2026Score: 4.5/5 (65 votes)
Republic Act 9346 (RA 9346) in the Philippines is the Anti-Death Penalty Law, enacted in 2006, which prohibits the imposition of capital punishment, abolishing the death penalty and replacing it with life imprisonment (reclusion perpetua) for crimes previously punishable by death, such as murder, rape, and drug trafficking. This law effectively repealed previous acts that reinstated the death penalty, like the Death Penalty Law (RA 7659) and the law designating lethal injection (RA 8177).
What is Republic Act No. 9346?
AN ACT PROHIBITING THE IMPOSITION OF DEATH PENALTY IN THE PHILIPPINES. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative of the Philippines in Congress assembled: SECTION 1. The Imposition of the penalty of death is hereby prohibited.
Who removed the death penalty in the Philippines?
Although the Philippines was the first Asian country to abolish the death penalty under the 1987 Constitution, it was re-imposed during the administration of President Fidel Ramos to address the rising crime rate in 1993, only to be abolished again in 2006, after the then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed a law ...
What are the 4 death penalties?
The primary means of execution in the U.S. have been hanging, electrocution, the gas chamber, firing squad, and lethal injection. The Supreme Court has never found a method of execution to be unconstitutional, though some methods have been declared unconstitutional by state courts.
When was RA 9346 enacted?
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez and Representative Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr. Last June 24, 2006, Republic Act 9346 was enacted into law thereby prohibiting the imposition of death penalty in the Philippines.
R.A. 9346: AN ACT PROHIBITING THE IMPOSITION OF DEATH PENALTY IN THE PHILIPPINES
What crimes are punishable by death penalty in the Philippines?
The Death Penalty Law in the Philippines, Republic Act No. 7659, introduces amendments to existing laws and adds new provisions, including the restoration of the death penalty for crimes such as treason, piracy, murder, rape, and plunder, among others, with penalties ranging from reclusion perpetua to death.
Who introduced the death penalty?
As far back as the Ancient Laws of China, the death penalty has been established as a punishment for crimes. In the 18th Century BC, the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon codified the death penalty for twenty five different crimes, although murder was not one of them.
What was Obama's death penalty?
On 17 January 2017, three days before leaving office after eight years in the White House, President Barack Obama commuted one military death sentence and one federal death sentence. The prisoner in each case will now serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
What is the most common crime for death penalty?
Overview. All of the prisoners currently on death row and all of those executed in the modern era of the death penalty were convicted of murder. Historically, the death penalty was widely used for rape, particularly against black defendants with white victims.
Was the guillotine painless?
The guillotine was designed for swift, supposedly painless death by severing the head, but whether it was truly painless is debated; while it caused rapid unconsciousness from blood loss, historical accounts and experiments suggest the severed head showed signs of sensation like twitching and redness, implying consciousness or pain perception might have lingered briefly after decapitation, making it quick but not necessarily instant or completely free of suffering.
Which country has abolished the death penalty?
PORTUGAL abolished the death penalty for all crimes. DENMARK abolished the death penalty for all crimes. LUXEMBOURG, NICARAGUA, and NORWAY abolished the death penalty for all crimes. BRAZIL, FIJI, and PERU abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.
Who was the first person to be given the death penalty in the Philippines?
On September 7, 1994, Echegaray was convicted by Branch 104 of the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City of rape and was sentenced to death. The death sentence was automatically reviewed by the Supreme Court and confirmed on June 25, 1996. This made him the first death row inmate to have their sentence confirmed.
Who controls the death penalty?
Federal death row, like state rows and the military row, is a single jurisdiction with its own unique features. Each federal death penalty case is authorized by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC, in consultation with local United States Attorney Offices.
Does RA 9346 apply retroactively?
It clarifies that the abolition of the death penalty by RA 9346 did not retroactively alter other penalties for heinous crimes, such as reclusion perpetua, and firmly establishes that individuals convicted of heinous crimes are not entitled to Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) under RA 10592.
What is the highest penalty in the Philippines?
Death: Although historically the highest penalty, the death penalty was abolished in the Philippines in 2006 and is not currently enforced. c. Reclusion perpetua: Translating to "perpetual imprisonment," this carries a sentence of 20 to 40 years.
What happens when someone dies in the Philippines?
In the Philippine wake for example, also known as a lamay, it is tradition that the family and friends hold the body of the deceased in a casket for 5 to 7 days for viewing; this is patterned from the visitation practiced in American wakes, in which they host the deceased's body clothed and treated with various ...
Who cannot receive the death penalty?
The United States Supreme Court has prohibited a sentence of death for someone who had intellectual disabilities at the time of the offense. Similarly, the Court has declared imposing a sentence of death on juveniles unconstitutional.
What are the 5 reasons for punishment?
Punishment has five recognized purposes: deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, retribution, and restitution.
What is the only crime punishable by death?
In the United States, the death penalty is primarily reserved for people who have been convicted of murder or other capital offenses. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that capital punishment is neither unconstitutional nor “cruel and unusual punishment,” and exists within the boundaries of the 8th and 14th amendments.
Does India have a death penalty?
Currently, there are around 564 prisoners on death row in India. The most recent executions in India took place on 20 March 2020, when four of the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case perpetrators were executed at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.
Who was the boy who touched Obama?
The boy who touched President Obama's hair in the iconic 2009 photo was Jacob Philadelphia, who asked Obama if his hair felt the same as his own afro-textured hair, leading Obama to invite him to touch it. The moment symbolized representation, and Obama later reconnected with Jacob, now a high school graduate, expressing pride in him.
Which state has no death penalty?
Since 2009, seven states — Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Virginia — have legislatively abolished the death penalty, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
What did Jesus say about the death penalty?
Jesus didn't directly address the state's role in capital punishment but showed mercy and challenged human judgment, notably in John 8:1-11 where he told accusers of an adulterous woman, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her," leading to no execution and showing that imperfect people shouldn't judge or carry out severe punishment, and by emphasizing love, forgiveness, and not retaliating ("turn the other cheek" in Matthew 5:38-39), suggesting a focus on mercy over retribution, though some interpret Romans 13:4 as supporting government authority for punishment.
Who stopped the death penalty?
Capital punishment in the United States can be traced to early colonial Virginia. There were no executions in the United States between 1967 and 1977. In 1972, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down capital punishment statutes in Furman v. Georgia, reducing all pending death sentences to life imprisonment.
Why do people sit on death row for so long?
People are on death row for so long primarily due to complex, mandatory, multi-layered legal appeals designed to prevent executing innocent people, involving state and federal courts, plus issues like inadequate defense, racial bias, underfunded public defenders, and difficulties securing lethal injection drugs, leading to delays often spanning decades.