Since we have a new president who agrees to bringing back death penalty, let’s talk about the history of capital punishment in our country.

A number of key historical events involved death penalty, such as Jose Rizal’s firing squad and Gomburza’s garrote. The last colonial-era execution took place under Governor-General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. in February 1932, but there were no executions under Manuel L. Quezon, the second president of the republic. Throughout the 40’s up to the Marco’s era, a few notable people we’re put to death.

After the People Power Revolution in 1986, the newly drafted 1987 Constitution prohibited the death penalty but allowed Congress to reinstate it “hereafter” for “heinous crimes”. This made the Philippines the first Asian country to abolish capital punishment. President Fidel V. Ramos restored it during his term, but it was again suspended via Republic Act No. 9346, which was signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on 24 June 2006, pardoning thousands of inmates in death row along the way.

Long story short, it was legal, but legislations put a stop to it. Since its suspension, there have been continued public and media calls for its reintroduction, particularly prompted by high-profile murder cases. We seem to be constantly trapped in a never ending whirlpool of debates to whether restore death penalty again or not.

Anyway, below are some surprising facts you probably didn’t know about death penalty in the Philippines.

Ancient Filipinos Practiced It, But Infrequently

Putting someone to death because of crime in pre-colonial Philippines was being practiced, but it wasn’t an everyday thing. In fact, they tried not to result to it as best as they can. Instead of capital punishment, they regularly choose fines, flogging, or slavery as a sentence. Of the three, slavery was the most common since pre-colonial Filipinos thought it was practical to have slaves working from them, tending to their fields and lands. Also, the unusual and cruel punishments as depicted in the Code of Kalantiaw, such as   thrown in boiling water and being eaten by ants, are in fact, just a hoax (in fact the whole code is fake). If executions were ever done, hanging or decapitation were the most common ways of doing it.

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