Death penalty for heinous crimes Act

Key penalty changes in Revised Penal Code

Section 2 amends Article 114 (Treason) so that a Filipino who levies war against the Philippines or adheres to her enemies, giving aid or comfort, is punished by reclusion perpetua to death and a fine not to exceed PHP 100,000.
Section 2 also requires that no person shall be convicted of treason unless supported by either (a) the testimony of at least two witnesses to the same overt act or (b) the accused’s confession in open court.
Section 2 further provides that an alien residing in the Philippines who commits acts of treason is punished by reclusion temporal to death and a fine not to exceed PHP 100,000.
Section 3 amends Articles 122 and 123 (Piracy and Qualified Piracy): general piracy and mutiny on the high seas or in Philippine waters is punishable by reclusion perpetua, while qualified piracy is punishable by reclusion perpetua to death.
Section 3 sets the qualified-piracy circumstances that trigger reclusion perpetua to death, including (a) seizing a vessel by boarding or firing upon it, (b) abandoning victims without means of saving themselves, or (c) the crime being accompanied by murder, homicide, physical injuries, or rape.
Section 4 incorporates Article 211-A (Qualified Bribery): a public officer entrusted with law enforcement who refrains from arresting or prosecuting an offender who committed a crime punishable by reclusion perpetua and/or death is punished by the penalty for the offense not prosecuted.
Section 4 provides that if the public officer asks or demands any gift or present for such refraining, the officer suffers the penalty of death.
Section 5 restores the death penalty for parricide under Article 246, punishing the killing of specified family members with reclusion perpetua to death.
Section 6 amends Article 248 (Murder) by defining murder punishable by reclusion perpetua to death depending on qualifying attendant circumstances.
Section 6 specifies that murder is punishable by reclusion perpetua to death with attendant circumstances such as treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, use of armed men, employing means to weaken defense or ensure impunity, consideration (price/reward/promise), certain modes (inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, derailment, motor vehicles, and others involving great waste and ruin), commission during public calamities (including earthquake, eruption, destructive cyclone, epidemic, or other public calamity), evident premeditation, and cruelty (deliberately and inhumanly augmenting suffering or outraging/scoffing at the person or corpse).
Section 7 amends Article 255 (Infanticide) by imposing the penalties for parricide (Article 246) and murder (Article 248) for killing a child less than three days of age.
Section 7 provides special penalty rules when the crime is committed for the purpose of concealing dishonor: the mother is punished by prision mayor in its medium and maximum periods, and maternal grandparents (or either) are punished by reclusion temporal.
Section 8 amends Article 267 (Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention) so that a private individual who kidnaps or detains another or deprives him of liberty suffers reclusion perpetua to death under specified aggravating circumstances, including detention lasting more than three days, simulation of public authority, serious physical injuries, or threats to kill; with additional qualifying rules when the victim is a minor (except when the accused is any of the parents, female, or a public officer).
Section 8 provides that the penalty is death when kidnapping/detention is committed for the purpose of extorting ransom from the victim or any other person, even if the other listed circumstances are absent.
Section 8 further provides that when the victim is killed or dies as a consequence of detention or is raped, or is subject to torture or dehumanizing acts, the maximum penalty is imposed.
Section 9 amends Article 294 (Robbery with Violence Against or Intimidation of Persons) by escalating penalties based on resulting crimes or severity of harm and the degree of violence or intimidation.
Section 9 provides that robbery with violence/in intimidation results in reclusion perpetua to death when homicide is committed on occasion of the robbery, or when the robbery is accompanied by rape or intentional mutilation or arson.
Section 10 amends Article 320 (Destructive Arson) to impose reclusion perpetua to death for burning enumerated property and facilities, and it mandates death when death results as a consequence of acts penalized under this Article.
Section 11 amends Article 335 (Rape): rape is committed under specified circumstances (force or intimidation; deprivation of reason/unconsciousness; and victim under twelve years of age or demented), punishable by reclusion perpetua.
Section 11 imposes reclusion perpetua to death when rape is committed with a deadly weapon or by two or more persons.
Section 11 imposes death when the victim becomes insane by reason or on the occasion of rape; and when rape is attempted/frustrated and homicide is committed by reason or on the occasion thereof; and when homicide is committed by reason or on the occasion of rape.
Section 11 also imposes death upon rape with specified attendant circumstances including victim characteristics and relationship, custody by police or military authorities, rape in full view of specified relatives within the third degree, victim religious or below seven (7) years old, offender knowing he is afflicted with AIDS, commission by any member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the Philippine National Police or any law enforcement agency, and when the victim suffers permanent physical mutilation.
Section 12 amends Republic Act No. 7080 (Plunder) by increasing punishability to reclusion perpetua to death for public officers who amass ill-gotten wealth in the aggregate amount or total value of at least Fifty million pesos (P50,000,000) through a combination or series of overt or criminal acts described in Section 1(d) of that Act.
Section 12 mandates forfeiture: the court shall declare ill-gotten wealth and interests and other incomes and assets, including properties and shares derived from deposit or investment, forfeited in favor of the State.
Section 13 amends Republic Act No. 6425 (Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972) by revising penalties for specified drug crimes (importation, sale/administration/delivery/distribution/transportation/brokering, maintaining dens/resorts, manufacture, possession/use, and cultivation of plants that are sources of prohibited drugs), with penalties of reclusion perpetua to death and fines ranging from Five hundred thousand pesos to Ten million pesos.
Section 14 amends penalties for regulated drugs under Republic Act No. 6425 (Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972), likewise imposing reclusion perpetua to death and fines ranging from Five hundred thousand pesos to Ten million pesos for importation, manufacture, and sale/dispensation/delivery/transportation/distribution.
Section 15 incorporates Section 15-A (Maintenance of a den, dive or resort for regulated drug users) imposing the same reclusion perpetua to death and fine range, and it imposes maximum penalty when regulated drugs are administered, delivered, or sold to a minor allowed to use them in such place, or when regulated drugs are the proximate cause of death of a person using them.
Section 16 amends Section 16 (Possession or Use of Regulated Drugs) to impose reclusion perpetua to death and fines ranging from Five hundred thousand pesos to Ten million pesos for possession or use without the corresponding license or prescription.

Drug quantities, confiscation, forfeiture, and officer liability

Section 17 amends Section 20 (Application of Penalties, Confiscation and Forfeiture of Proceeds or Instruments of the Crime) by applying heightened penalties to specified quantities of dangerous drugs.
Section 17 sets quantity thresholds that trigger the amended penalty application, including 40 grams or more of opium, 40 grams or more of morphine, 200 grams or more of shabu or methylamphetamine hydrochloride, 40 grams or more of heroin, 750 grams or more of indian hemp or marijuana, 50 grams or more of marijuana resin or marijuana resin oil, and 40 grams or more of cocaine or cocaine hydrochloride.
Section 17 provides that for other dangerous drugs, a quantity far beyond therapeutic requirements—determined and promulgated by the Dangerous Drugs Board after public consultations/hearings—is treated as the threshold for applying the stated penalties.
Section 17 provides that if the quantity is less than those thresholds, penalties range from prision correccional to reclusion perpetua, depending on quantity.
Section 17 mandates confiscation and forfeiture in favor of the Government of proceeds (including money and other assets) and instruments/tools of the crime for offenses involving unlawful importation, sale, administration, delivery, transportation, manufacture, cultivation of plant sources, and possession of an opium pipe and other paraphernalia.
Section 17 orders destruction without delay of those dangerous drugs and plant sources, and related confiscated items, that are not of lawful commerce.
Section 17 requires that confiscated/forfeited dangerous drugs and plant sources and proceeds or instruments turned over to the Board for proper disposal without delay.
Section 17 makes officer misconduct punishable: any apprehending/arresting officer who misappropriates or misapplies or fails to account for seized/confiscated dangerous drugs or plant-sources or proceeds or instruments is punished after conviction by reclusion perpetua to death and a fine ranging from five hundred thousand pesos to ten million pesos.
Section 18 incorporates Section 20-A (Plea-bargaining Provision) barring plea-bargaining for persons charged under any provision of Republic Act No. 6425 where the imposable penalty is reclusion perpetua to death.
Section 19 amends Section 24 (Penalties for Government Officials and Employees; “Planting” of Evidence) by imposing the maximum penalties provided for specified offenses if the guilty party is a government official, employee, or officer, including members of police agencies and the Armed Forces.
Section 19 mandates the same penalty for any such government official who is found guilty of “planting” dangerous drugs punished in specified sections in the person or immediate vicinity of another as evidence to implicate the latter.

Carnapping penalty and revised penalty framework

Section 20 amends Section 14 of Republic Act No. 6539 (Anti-Carnapping Act of 1972) by punishing carnapping irrespective of vehicle value with imprisonment ranges depending on whether committed without violence/intimidation or with violence/intimidation/force upon things.
Section 20 imposes reclusion perpetua to death when the owner, driver, or occupant of the carnapped motor vehicle is killed or raped in the course of the carnapping or on the occasion thereof.
Section 21 amends Article 27 (Revised Penal Code) by restating determinate durations for reclusion perpetua, reclusion temporal, and the duration ranges for various other penalties including prision mayor, prision correccional, arresto mayor, and arresto menor, and it addresses the bond to keep the peace requirement by covering the period of time the court determines.

Death penalty procedural rules and execution

Section 22 amends Article 47 (Revised Penal Code) to require that the death penalty be imposed in all cases where it must be imposed under existing laws.
Section 22 exempts the death penalty when the guilty person is below eighteen (18) years of age at the time of the crime or is more than seventy years of age, and it also provides an exception when, on appeal or automatic review by the Supreme Court, the required majority vote is not obtained for imposing the death penalty—then the penalty becomes reclusion perpetua.
Section 22 imposes an automatic review process: when death penalty is imposed by the trial court, records must be forwarded to the Supreme Court for automatic review and judgment by the Court en banc within twenty (20) days but not earlier than fifteen (15) days after promulgation of judgment or notice of denial of any motion for new trial or reconsideration.
Section 22 requires forwarding the transcript within ten (10) days after filing thereof by the stenographic reporter.
Section 24 amends Article 81 (When and how the death penalty is to be executed) by requiring that the death sentence be executed with preference to any other and carried out by electrocution under the authority of the Director of Prisons.
Section 24 provides that the Director of Prisons shall endeavor, so far as possible, to mitigate suffering during electrocution and during the proceedings prior to the execution.
Section 24 allows the person under sentence to be anaesthesized at the moment of the execution if he desires.
Section 24 provides that as soon as facilities are provided by the Bureau of Prisons, the method shall change to gas poisoning.
Section 24 mandates execution not later than one (1) year after the judgment has become final.
Section 25 amends Article 83 (Suspension of the execution of the death sentence) by prohibiting infliction of the death sentence on a woman while pregnant or within one (1) year after delivery, and prohibiting infliction on any person over seventy years of age.
Section 25 provides that for persons over seventy years of age, the death sentence is commuted to reclusion perpetua with accessory penalties under Article 40.
Section 25 directs that when the death sentence becomes final, the Supreme Court shall forward the records immediately to the Office of the President for possible exercise of pardoning power.

Additional substantive bribery, bribery-related treason rules

Section 4 makes qualified bribery applicable specifically to law-enforcement public officers who refrain from arresting or prosecuting offenders who committed crimes punishable by reclusion perpetua and/or death.
Section 4 provides that where the officer asks or demands gifts or presents to refrain, the penalty is death.

Exigencies, review, and maximum penalty triggers

Section 11 requires death in rape scenarios where death or insanity consequences or specified attendant circumstances occur, including permanent physical mutilation, certain victim age/relation/custody circumstances, and cases involving specified institutions (Armed Forces, PNP, or law enforcement agencies).
Section 10 mandates death when, as a consequence of acts penalized under destructive arson, death results.
Section 8 mandates that the kidnapping/detention penalty reaches death when committed for ransom purposes, even if other listed qualifying circumstances are absent.
Section 8 requires maximum penalty when detention results in killing, rape, torture, or dehumanizing acts.

Repeal, separability, and effectivity timing

Section 26 repeals or modifies all laws, presidential decrees and issuances, executive orders, rules and regulations, or parts thereof inconsistent with the Act.
Section 27 provides separability: if any part is held unconstitutional or invalid, the unaffected parts continue in full force and effect.
Section 28 provides effectivity fifteen (15) days after publication in two (2) national newspapers of general circulation, with publication not later than seven (7) days after approval.
The Act is approved December 13, 1993.