01 Jul The End of Capital Punishment in the Philippines
Excellent news out of Manila: last week the Philippines became the 125th country to ban the use of capital punishment for all crimes, a move that commutes the death sentences of nearly 1,200 prisoners to life imprisonment. This is the second time that the Philippines has abolished capital punishment; although the country’s constitution eliminated the death penalty in 1987, its congress restored it in 1993 for serious crimes like murder, rape, and kidnapping. A number of factors led to the new ban, including a re-evaluation of the deterrent value of capital punishment and the central role the Catholic Church plays in Philippine life:
Ricardo Saludo, secretary in charge of the Cabinet, says a change in the social and legal climate likely influenced the Congress to finally pass the legislation.
“It has really emerged that what is important in fighting crime is the quality of enforcement and cooperation between the community and the police, rather than the strictness of the penalty,” noted Saludo. “On top of that, this year, the Supreme Court came out with its own ruling that the death penalty is against the constitution.”
The opinion of the Catholic Church may also have influenced the issue. The Philippines is a predominantly Roman Catholic nation and the Vatican’s envoy to Manila has congratulated the president and lawmakers for abolishing capital punishment.
On last week (Thursday, 29 June, 2006) The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova unanimously voted to exclude definitely the death penalty from the Constitution. The amendment provides for exclusion from the text of the Constitution of the provision concerning death penalty for acts commited during a war or in danger of war. The death penalty was under moratorium up to now (from 1996), and the new Criminal Code, adopted in 2002, does not contain any death penalty provision.