THE DEATH PENALTY AND ITS EXECUTION


History of Capital Punishment in Antiquity

      Death penalty appears in the earliest chronicles of antiquity. (Anthropologists speculate that death penalty for crime found in the earliest codes, originated in the sacrificial killing for impiety in ancient religion). The Mosaic Law---after Moses on whose term promulgated the Ten Commandments---provided death penalty for crimes of murder, kidnapping, and assault, by or deed, upon one’s parents. The early reigns of English Kings saw the application of capital punishment as common penalty for felonies.


Capital Punishment in the Philippines

      In the Philippines, capital punishment has practically evolved. Its formal introduction into the country’s legal system came as early as 1886 through the old Penal Code which was an amended version of the Spanish Codigo Penal of 1870. The latter remained the main reference body of criminal law operating even during the American period. During the early Spanish period, decapitation through guillotine was used. Later one, it was death by musketry (firing squad) as in the case of our national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

      When the Americans took over the reigns of government, they introduced death penalty through electrocution. (The electric chair was built in 1924). In 1941, Commonwealth Act. No. 616, added espionage to the list of offenses punishable by death. During World War II, death by hanging was imposed. (The infamous hanging of Japanese Imperial Army General Tomoyuki Yamashita for war crimes is one classic example); thereafter, death by electrocution was continued.

      At the height of the "Hukbalahap" rebellion in the 1950s, the government enacted Republic Act no. 1700 or otherwise known as the Anti-subversion Law. Although RA 1700 carried the death penalty for leaders of the rebellion, no executions were carried out under this law. Between the years 1946 to 1965, thirty (35) convicts were executed, mainly penalized for particularly savage crimes marked by “senseless depravity” and “extreme criminal perversity.”

      From 1971 to 1972, the Anti Hijacking Law, the Dangerous Drugs Act and the Anti Car Napping Law were passed and a series of Presidential Decrees were also issued which made many crimes capital offenses, including subversion, illegal possession of firearms, arson, embezzlement and illegal fishing. During the Martial Law years, death penalty was initially executed through musketry (firing squad) before electrocution was reintroduced.

      After the first EDSA revolution In 1986, the death penalty was technically abolished. Those sentenced to death during this period were immediately commuted to life imprisonment.

      Due to the increase in so-called "heinous" crimes, the Death Penalty was re-enacted into law In 1994 as a deterrent in the commission of these crimes. By 1996, the mode of execution was changed to death through lethal injection, and the Lethal Injection Chamber was construction inside the NBP Compound. The design and operative procedures in the Lethal Injection Chamber including its approach and conceptual framework was authored and facilitated by Director of Corrections Vicente G. Vinarao, who in the course of the preparation, studied comprehensively those States in USA where the death penalty is legalized.


The Death Chamber

      The Chamber stands as a symbol of the strength of the State in dealing a final blow on heinous crime---a social epidemic which in the early 90s, society was seriously encountering. It evoked the majesty of criminal justice administration and projected the might of the law.
      In 1998, after twenty three (23) years since the last execution was conducted, a series of executions were made using lethal injection. Seven (7) death row convicts were successively sent to their deaths by lethal injection. To date, more than a thousand death row prisoners still await their fate.


Execution Procedures


      There are legal relief’s on when the death penalty may be suspended. One is through the court issuance for a stay of execution. Another is through the Presidential grant of reprieve. In both instances, the death penalty schedule is postponed. This however does not commute or reduce the penalty of death; it merely re-schedules the date of execution.

      The procedures on the implementation of the death penalty are as follows:

      1) Death penalty is pronounced and handed down by the lower court or the court which tries a case.

      2) The death penalty decision is automatically brought to the Court of Appeals for an automatic review. (This is a new judicial formula. Formerly, all cases where death penalty is obtained is subject to automatic review by the Supreme Court.)

      3) Once the verdict of the lower court is affirmed by the Appellate Court, the case is sent back to the court of origin for the issuance of a Warrant of Execution. This is form where the lower court determines the date when execution is to be implemented.

      4) The lower court sends the Warrant of Execution to the Bureau of Corrections for scheduling. The Bureau informs the Department of Justice on the Warrant and in turn, the latter informs the President.

      5) Where there are no advices from the Department of Justice as to the Presidential reaction, the Bureau instructs the formation of an Execution Team and proceeds to the preparation of the Lethal Injection Chamber including the necessary drugs for the scheduled execution.


Execution through Lethal Injection

      Lethal injection is not a cocktail of poison to be administered on the condemned prisoner. The drugs to be injected have to pass the Drugs Board and are in fact used in medical practice. Administered in large doses however, it becomes potently fatal.

      Drugs, mostly used in surgical operations are used. Introduced into separate syringes and connected to a multi-port injective system are Penthotal (in successive series), Pavulon and Potassium Chloride. The system is attached intravenously on the condemned prisoner.

      On the date of execution at a designated time to be signaled by the Director of Corrections, the execution team is in their clinical formation. As soon as the order to proceed is issued, the drugs are immediately administered. In seconds, the execution is over.