1 3‘h Congress of the Republic) 
of the Philippines 
) 
First Regular Session‘ 
) 
S E N A T E  
Introduced by Senators Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
This bill seeks to abolish the death penalty as prescribed in Republic Act 
No. 7659 or the Death Penalty Law, Act No. 3815, otherwise known as the 
revised Penal Code and other special laws. 
The Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. For instance, no 
law may be passed that will mandate the lopping off the male member of a rapist 
or the severing of the land of a murderer or the legs of a kidnapper. Neither may 
our courts impose any sentence prescribing such acts. 
The reason is that these would constitute cruel and unusual punishments 
that are prescribed by the Constitution. 
If it is a cruel and unusual punishment to cut off parts of the body of a 
convict, why is it not cruel and unusual punishment to take his very life? 
Moreover, the death penalty has not proven to be a deterrent to crime. 
And if the death penalty is seen as a retributive act of society, keeping a convict 
in jail for the rest of his life can very well be a civilized substitute for it. Death, by 
its finality, completely eliminates all hopes for rehabilitation. 
Even as an act of retributive justice, the death penalty may be faulted 
because it rests on the principle of Lex Talionis, “an eye for an eye; a tooth for a 
tooth” principle. Pushed to its logical conclusion, it means that the convict must 
also suffer the indignities, the torture and the pain to which he might have 
subjected his victim. 
Moreover, the ultimate nightmare is the probability of the State killing an 
innocent person for a crime he or she did not commit. It has happened in the US. 
It can happen here. 
This bill proposes to correct this grave moral wrong. It seeks to abolish the 
death penalty. In its stead, reclusion perpefua or a 30 years without parole be 
imposed in the cases where the law provides for the death penalty. 
The approval of this bill is urgently recommended. 


13th Congress of the Republic ) 
of the Philippines 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
S E N A T E  
31185 
S. B. No. 
lnfroduced by Senators Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. 
AN ACT 
PROVIDING FOR THE IMPOSITION OF THE PENALTY OF IMPRISONMENT 
FOR THIRTY YEARS (30) YEARS INSTEAD OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN 
CASES WHERE THE LAW PRESCRIBES THE DEATH PENALTY 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the 
Philippines in Congress assembled: 
Section 1. The provision of any law, rule or regulation to the contrary 
notwithstanding, the penalty of thirty years instead of the death penalty, shall 
henceforth be imposed in cases where the law prescribes the imposition of the 
death penalty for the violation of its provisions. 
Section 2. Any person who shall be sentenced by final judgment to 
reclusion perpetua by the virtue of this Act shall serve it for the rest of his natural 
life, without entitlement to any allowance for good conduct, special time 
allowance for loyalty, or parole save only as the President of the Philippines may 
allow in the exercise his power to grant reprieves, commutation of sentence or 
pardon under the Constitution. 
Section 3. Any person who has been meted out the death penalty by the 
final judgment shall have his sentence commuted and serve it in accordance with 
the provisions of this Act. 
section 4. This Act shall take effect immediately.