[ Act No. 3104, March 17, 1923 ]

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION ONE OF ACT NUMBERED TWENTY- SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE MANNER IN WHICH THE DEATH PENALTY SHALL BE EXECUTED

Be it enacted by the Senate and  House of Representatives of the Philippines in  Legislature assembled and  by the authority of the same:SECTION  1. Section one of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and twenty-six is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SECTION 1. The  death penalty shall be imposed in all cases in which it must be imposed under existing law, except in the following:"FIRST. When  the guilty person was less than eighteen years or more than  seventy years of age at the time of the commission of the  crime; and"SECOND. When in the consideration of the  case in the second instance  there is not a  unanimous vote of  all the members of the  Supreme Court as to the  propriety of the imposition  of the death penalty: Provided,  however,  That the consideration of the case in the second instance shall always be per curiam; and the sentence shall be signed by all the members of  the  said Court: And provided, further. That in case one or more Justices are legally disqualified from taking part in the consideration of the case,  the unanimous vote and signature of only the remaining justices shall  be required."

SEC. 2. The death sentence shall be executed with  preference to any other and shall consist in putting the person under sentence to death by electrocution.   The  death  sentence shall be executed under the authority of  the Director of Prisons, endeavoring to  mitigate the  sufferings of the person under sentence as well during electrocution as during the  proceedings prior to the execution.If the person under sentence  so desire, he  shall be anaesthetized at the moment of the electrocution.SEC. 3. Notification and execution of the  sentence, and assistance  of the offender.—The  court shall designate a working day for the execution,  but  not the  hour thereof; and such designation shall not be  communicated to the offender before sunrise of said day, and the execution shall not take place until after the expiration of  at  least eight hours following the notification, but before sunset.  During the interval between the notification and the  execution, the offender shall, in so far as possible, be furnished such assistance as he may request in order to be attended in his last moments by priests or minister of  the religion he professes and to consult lawyers,  as well as in order to make a will and confer with members of his family or persons in charge of the management of his business, of the administration of his property, or of the care of his descendants.SEC. 4. Suspension of  the execution of the  death sentence.—The  death  sentence shall  not be  inflicted upon  a woman within the three  years next following the date of the sentence or while she is pregnant, nor  upon  any person in a condition of mental deficiency or disturbance.SEC. 5. Place  of  the  execution  and  persons  present thereat.—The execution shall take place in a space closed to the public view and shall be witnessed only by the priests assisting the offender and by his  lawyers  and relatives, if he so request, by a physician and  the necessary personnel, and by such persons as the administration may authorize. SEC. 6. Provision relative to the body of the person executed and its burial.—Unless claimed by his family, the body of the offender  shall, upon the completion  of the legal proceedings subsequent  to the  execution, be turned over to some institute of learning or scientific research, for  such studies with the use  thereof as the same may see  fit, if said body be requested for such  purpose, and such institute shall take  charge of  the decent  burial of the remains.   In other cases,  the administration  shall give the body decent burial,  granting permission  to  be present thereat to the members of  the family of the offender and  to  the friends designated by the latter.SEC.  7. This  Act shall take effect on its approval.Approved, March 17, 1923.

Source: Supreme Court E-Library