Capital punishment in the Philippines

Capital punishment in the Philippines has a varied history and is currently suspended as of 2006. Capital punishment was legal after independence and increased in use under the Ferdinand Marcos regime. After the fall of Marcos, there was a moratorium on capital punishment from 1987–1999, followed by a resumption in executions from 1999–2006, followed by a law ending the practice. The death penalty seems likely to return to the Philippines; President Rodrigo Duterte, elected in 2016, is a vocal supporter of resumption of capital punishment.

Filipinos have mixed opinions about the death penalty, with many opposing it on religious and humanitarian grounds, while advocates see it as a way of deterring crimes.

During Spanish colonial rule, the most common methods of execution were death by firing squad (especially for treason/military crimes, usually reserved for independence fighters) and garrotte (a notable case would be the Gomburza). Death by hanging was another popular method.

A prominent example is the national hero, José Rizal, who was executed by firing squad on the morning of December 30, 1896, in the park that now bears his name.

In 1926, the electric chair (Spanish: silla eléctrica; Filipino: silya eléktrika) was introduced by the United States' colonial Insular Government, making the Philippines the only other country to employ this method. The last colonial-era execution took place under Governor-General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. in February 1932. There were no executions under Manuel L. Quezon, the first President of the Commonwealth.

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