Purpose and declared policy
- The Act designates death by lethal injection as the method of carrying out capital punishment.
- The Act directs the implementing authorities to endeavor so far as possible to mitigate the sufferings of the convict during the lethal injection and during the proceedings prior to the execution.
Substantive amendment to Revised Penal Code
- Section 1 amends Article 81 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Section 24 of Republic Act No. 7659, by replacing the text on when and how the death penalty is executed.
- The death sentence shall be executed with preference to any other penalty.
- The death sentence shall consist in putting the person under the sentence to death by lethal injection.
Execution authority and mitigation duties
- The death sentence is executed under the authority of the Director of the Bureau of Corrections.
- The Director of the Bureau of Corrections must take steps to ensure the lethal injection administered is sufficient to cause the instantaneous death of the convict.
- The Director of the Bureau of Corrections must ensure that all personnel involved in the administration of lethal injection are trained prior to the performance of such task.
Physician pronouncement and certification
- The authorized physician of the Bureau of Corrections, after thorough examination, shall officially make a pronouncement of the convict’s death.
- The authorized physician must certify the pronouncement in the records of the Bureau of Corrections.
Timing of execution and presidential clemency
- The death sentence must be carried out not earlier than one (1) year nor later than eighteen (18) months after the judgment has become final and executory.
- The timing requirement is without prejudice to the exercise of the President’s executive clemency powers at all times.
Coverage for already sentenced convicts
- Section 2 provides that persons already sentenced by a judgment that has become final and executory, and who are waiting to undergo the death penalty by electrocution or gas poisoning, are covered by the Act upon its effectivity.
- Their sentences are automatically modified to carry out the death penalty by lethal injection for this purpose.
Implementing rules and deadlines
- Section 3 requires the Secretary of Justice, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and the Bureau of Corrections, to promulgate implementing rules.
- The implementing rules must be promulgated within thirty (30) days from the effectivity of this Act.
Repealing clause
- Section 4 repeals or modifies all laws, presidential decrees and issuances, executive orders, rules and regulations, or parts thereof that are inconsistent with the Act.