REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9346

AN ACT PROHIBITING THE IMPOSITION OF DEATH PENALTY IN THE PHILIPPINES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Source and scope: The five sections below reproduce Republic Act No. 9346 as approved on 24 June 2006 (signed Act). Section 2 distinguishes reclusion perpetua from life imprisonment. Section 3 addresses parole; Section 4 preserves the President's power of executive clemency. The Supreme Court's 4 August 2015 guidelines (A.M. No. 15-08-02-SC, printed pages 1742–1744) explain when to add "without eligibility for parole" to reclusion perpetua.

SECTION 1. — The imposition of the penalty of death is hereby prohibited. Accordingly, Republic Act No. Eight Thousand One Hundred Seventy-Seven (R.A. No. 8177), otherwise known as the Act Designating Death by Lethal Injection, is hereby repealed. Republic Act No. Seven Thousand Six Hundred Fifty-Nine (R.A. No. 7659), otherwise known as the Death Penalty Law, and all other laws, executive orders and decrees, insofar as they impose the death penalty are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SEC. 2. — In lieu of the death penalty, the following shall be imposed:

1. the penalty of reclusión perpetua, when the law violated makes use of the nomenclature of the penalties of the Revised Penal Code; or
2. the penalty of life imprisonment, when the law violated does not make use of the nomenclature of the penalties of the Revised Penal Code.

SEC. 3. — Persons convicted of offenses punished with reclusión perpetua, or whose sentences will be reduced to reclusión perpetua, by reason of this Act, shall not be eligible for parole under Act No. 4103, otherwise known as the Indeterminate Sentence Law, as amended.

SEC. 4. — The Board of Pardons and Parole shall cause the publication at least once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation of the names of persons convicted of offenses punished with reclusión perpetua or life imprisonment by reason of this Act who are being considered or recommended for commutation or pardon: Provided, however, That nothing herein shall limit the power of the President to grant executive clemency under Section 19, Article VII of the Constitution.

SEC. 5. — This Act shall take effect immediately after its publication in two national newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,

JOSE DE VENECIA JR.

Speaker of the House of Representatives

FRANKLIN M. DRILON

President of the Senate

This Act which is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 2254 and House Bill No. 4826 was finally passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on June 7, 2006.

ROBERTO P. NAZARENO

Secretary General

House of Representatives

OSCAR G. YABES

Secretary of the Senate

Approved: June 24, 2006

GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

President of the Philippines