President Rodrigo Roa Duterte urges lawmakers to pass the death penalty bill by lethal injection for drug- related cases during his fifth State of The Nation Address (SONA) held at Batasang Pambansa, on Monday, July 27.

“This law will not only deter criminality, but also save our children from dangers caused by illegal and dangerous drugs,” the president stated.

He explained that the effect of drugs to a person would not only occur to the one who uses it, but also have an impact to his family.

“Yung sinasabi nilang misery sa human rights, plus ten yan. Not to count the victims of crimes perpetrated by people addicted to those,” Duterte emphasized.

On October 2019, the Commission on Human Rights rejected the plea of bringing back death penalty in the counfry as it was thought to be a cause of cycle of violence in the country.

“The suffering extends to [the convicted person’s] loved ones, especially their children whose anguish can even be more severe than the person [on] death row,” CHR Commissioner Karen Gomez Dumpit stated.

Philippines was the first Asian country to abolish the death penalty under the 1987 Constitution, which was re-imposed during the administration of President Fidel Ramos to address the rising crime rate in 1993, and terminated again by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on 2006 reducing this charge to lifetime imprisonment.