Malacañang Palace on Wednesday said that any motion to reimpose the death penalty must be carefully studied.
In a briefing, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has yet to take a position on the matter amid calls to impose capital punishment on corrupt politicians and public officials.
“This must be studied because we cannot just suddenly say that the death penalty should be there; it must be studied carefully because the five pillars of justice system must be clean, good, and orderly,” she said.
She also cited the risk of wrongful convictions in a flawed justice system, pointing to past instances where individuals admitted to planting evidence or fabricating accusations.
“Filipinos should be free from the influence of the past where some admitted that they were used to creating intrigue and planting evidence. What if the innocent accused due to intrigue and were planted with evidence [and] the death penalty could be imposed. What a pity for those we can say are innocent,” she added.
The Philippines first abolished the death penalty in 1987, becoming the first Asian nation to do so. It was reinstated in 1993 under Republic Act 7659 during the administration of President Fidel Ramos, as a deterrent to rising crime rates.
Those convicted of heinous crimes were sentenced to death — initially through the electric chair, before the method was changed to lethal injection in 1996 after the passage of Republic Act No. 8177.
In 2000, former President Joseph Estrada declared a moratorium on executions, which was continued by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo until the passage of Republic Act No. 9346 in 2006, which permanently repealed the death penalty in the country.