Acknowledging the support of the human rights community, both national andinternational, to the call of the Commission on HumanRights of the Philippines (Commission)for the Philippine Governmentto respect, protect, and fulfill the inherent dignity of humanpersonin the contextof the rightto life and impose a perpetual abolition of the death penalty; Committed to the promotion and protection of humanrights in the Philippines, the Commission,as the country's national humanrightsinstitution, issues this advisory: I. CONTEXT 1. The Philippinesis the 25" countryin the Asia-Pacific region and the 125" nation“ to end capital punishment whenR.A. 9346 wassignedinto laws. This wasafter more than a decadeofstruggle and battle against Republic Act No. 7659 otherwise knownas the Death Penalty Law,enacted in 1993. This has been our country’'s shining momentin the international communityas it showedourprogressive compliance with international obligations on human rights. 2. While there have beenefforts in the past to reinstate the death penalty, none has provedto be successful. As such, the Philippines has maintained compliance with its international commitment. 3. However, with the current administration's newsetofpolicies, things are set to change. In his inaugural speech, President Rodrigo Duterte, espousing for real change in government, announcedhispolitical policies in eliminating corruption, criminality and the rampanttradeofillegal drugs. This commitmentto eradicatetheills of society wasreiteratedinhis first State of the Nation Address" and the reimpositionof the death penalty has been declared to be oneof the meansto eliminate them. 4. Through the President's pronouncements,it has beenclear that his stance on death penaltyis for its reimposition, not onlyfor the purposeofdeterring crimes, but mainly for retribution. Thefirst bill’? that wasfiled in the 17" Congress seeks to re-impose the capital punishmentof death through lethal injection on certain heinous crimes. II. ADVISORY 5. Asof date, there are sixteen measures'® pending in Congress which anchor their contention to reintroduce death penaltyon the very same Constitution that valuesthe dignity of every humanperson. 6. Proponentsof thebill which aimsfor the revival of the capital punishment havehigh hopes, in the midstofperceived rising criminality, that reviving the capital punishmentof death will deter would be criminals asit instills “See: https://www.amnesty.or.jp/en/news/2006/0608_514_ html (accessed on 3 November2016) 'S 24 June 2006 ' President Rodrigo Duterte's First State of the Nation Address; 25 July 2016 ' House Bill No. 1, authored by Rep. Fredenil H. Castro,et al., filed on 30 June 2016 '§ HouseBill Nos. 1, 16513, 860 2568, 3237, 3239, 3240, and 3418 Seventeenth Congressofthe Republic ofthe Philippines; Senate Bill Nos. 4, 42, 185, 186, 187, 889, 985 Seventeenth Congress of the Republic ofthe Philippines. 58