In pushing for a bill that reinstates the death penalty for large-scale illegal drug trafficking, Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa claimed that lethal injection is the “universally accepted” method of capital punishment. This is wrong.
STATEMENT
Interviewed on CNN Philippines’ The Source, anchor Pinky Webb asked Dela Rosa if convicted illegal drug traffickers and drug lords would be given the lethal injection under a death penalty bill that he had filed. The former national police chief replied:
“Yes. Lethal injection is the universally accepted mode of carrying out death penalty, so okay tayo d’yan (I’m okay with that). We have to abide by that convention.”
Source: CNN Philippines Official Youtube Channel, Sen. Bato dela Rosa | The Source, Aug. 3, 2022, watch from 25:33 to 25:45
FACT
There is no “universally accepted” mode of implementing the death penalty. In fact, 123 state-parties to the United Nations, including the Philippines, voted for the global suspension of the death penalty in a Dec. 16, 2020 resolution.
Death by hanging is the method used in eight out of 16 countries that continue to practice capital punishment, according to Amnesty International’s 2021 report.
| Method | Country |
| Hanging | Bangladesh, Botswana, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Japan, South Sudan, United Arab Emirates (UAE) |
| Firing squad | Belarus, China, North Korea, Somalia, Yemen |
| Lethal injection | China, USA, Vietnam |
| Beheading | Saudi Arabia |
Source: Amnesty International, Death sentences and executions 2021, May 24, 2022
In the United States, 1,368 executions by lethal injection have been recorded since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, adding that this is a “primary method” of capital punishment in states with death penalty sentences.
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Sources
CNN Philippines Official Youtube Channel, Sen. Bato dela Rosa | The Source, Aug. 3, 2022
United Nations Digital Library, Moratorium on the use of the death penalty : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly, Dec. 16, 2020
Commission on Human Rights, Statement of Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit on the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty, Dec. 17, 2020
Amnesty International, Death sentences and executions 2021, May 24, 2022
Amnesty International, Who We Are, Accessed Aug. 3, 2022
Death Penalty Information Center, Fact Sheet, July 29, 2022
Death Penalty Information Center, About Us, Accessed Aug. 3, 2022
Death Penalty Information Center, State by State, Accessed Aug. 3, 2022
(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)
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