Death penalty abolished in Philippines

June 24, 2006 Gloria Arroyo, President of the Philippines, has signed legislation abolishing the death penalty. This move comes on the eve of a visit to see Pope Benedict XVI and only two weeks after the legislation was confirmed by Congress. The change in sentencing law will lead to more than 1,200 prisoners having their sentences changed to life imprisonment.

Arroyo has made assurances that "we shall continue to devote the increasing weight of our resources to the prevention and control of serious crimes, rather than take the lives of those who commit them". She was keen to emphasise that her country was not soft on terrorism.

In the Philippines, the death penalty was originally abolished in 1987, but it was reintroduced in 1993. Since then seven people have been executed. Abolition of the death penalty has generally occurred in correlation with increasing democratisation in nation-states around the world. As of 2005, a majority of states (122) were abolitionist, and a minority (73) retained the death penalty.