Deputy speakers and committee chairpersons at the House of Representatives who will vote against the reimposition of the death penalty shall be removed from their posts, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Wednesday.

"Papalitan namin...Deputy speakers na hindi sasama doon sa administration bill, papalitan po natin. Kasi awkward na deputy speaker ka and then you don’t agree with the leadership," he said.

Alvarez also said PDP-Laban party-mates who would oppose the measure should resign from the party. He asserted that as members of the supermajority in the House, they should be the main proponents of the bill.

"They are free to resign from the party. I will not force them of course," he said.

The Speaker earlier said there will be no arm twisting or consequences on the congressmen who will vote against the bill.

The House last week began its plenary deliberation on the bills seeking to reimpose the death penalty.

On Tuesday, the Senate also started its discussion on bills proposing the revival of the death penalty.

A government commission on women argued before the senators that there is no compelling reason to revive the death penalty when, according to the national police, crime rates have gone down.

Janica Brigola, planning officer III of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), noted that Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald dela Rosa, in several interviews, claimed that "there is a very significant decrease in rape incidents and a downward trend in the so-called focused crimes."

Dela Rosa has also affirmed that "the overall index crime rate right now has gone down, including those which are considered heinous," she added.

• 'With crime rate down, why restore death penalty?'

The restoration of the death penalty has been one of the campaign promises of President Rodrigo Duterte, who said it would serve as retribution for those who commit heinous crimes.

In a meeting after it was clear he won the elections, Duterte told some lawmakers he favors hanging over lethal injection as a means of execution.

-- reports from Robert Mano, DZMM