PH backs UN resolution for global moratorium on death penalty

UNITED NATIONS, New York – The Philippines joined the majority of nations in supporting a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions for those sentenced to death.

Two-thirds of UNGA member countries, representing 130 nations, voted in favor of the resolution, while 32 opposed it, while 22 abstained.

This marks the tenth resolution addressing the global moratorium on the death penalty since its introduction in 2007. The latest resolution, spearheaded by Argentina and Italy through the Inter-Regional Task Force and backed by 70 countries, was adopted on December 17.

Support for the resolution has continued to grow, with nations such as Antigua and Barbuda, Kenya, Morocco, and Zambia voting in favor for the first time.

While the global movement toward abolishing the death penalty gains momentum, some countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, still implement capital punishment.

Data from the Department of Foreign Affairs reveal that 59 Filipinos currently face death penalty sentences, mainly in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

The UNGA aims for this resolution to inspire member states to take definitive steps toward ending capital punishment worldwide.

Death Penalty in PH

The Philippines' 1987 Constitution abolished the death penalty, but Congress restored the death penalty in late 1993 for crimes such as murder, child rape, and kidnapping.

Leo Echegaray was the first person to be executed when the death penalty was re-imposed in the Philippines back in 1999 following his conviction for raping a 10-year-old girl. He was one of the seven people executed during the period. 

In 2006, the Philippines abolished capital punishment after then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law Republic Act 9346, which prohibited the death penalty in the Philippines.

Earlier this year, a bill restoring the death penalty in the Philippines has been proposed in the House of Representatives.

Duterte Youth party-list Representative Drixie Mae Cardema made the proposal under House Bill 10910, which imposes death penalty on the crimes of plunder, rape, murder, illegal drugs and other heinous crimes through firing squad for government officials and lethal injection for non-government officials.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News