The overdue report that the Philippine government submitted to the United Nations Committee against Torture is "their long tale of lies", said the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) , a FORUM-ASIA member. In a statement issued on 28 April 2009, they said, "this government can break free from the culture of impunity by decisively bringing perpetrators before the bars of justice". Below is the statement.
The
overdue report that the Philippine government submitted to the United
Nations Committee against Torture is "their long tale of lies", said the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) , a FORUM-ASIA member. In a statement issued on 28 April 2009, they said, "this government can break free from the
culture of impunity by decisively bringing perpetrators before the bars of
justice". Below is the statement.

April 27 to 29, 2009
will be the time for the Philippine government to submit its overdue report to
the United Nations Committee against Torture. The Philippine Report covers the
period from June 1989 to June 2007, 17 years late, a clear neglect
of state obligations under Article 19 paragraph 1 of the Convention Against
Torture (CAT).

After 17 years of
backlog the government will be submitting their long tale of lies and parables
to the United Nations.

THE REAL SITUATION:

Although more than thirty years have passed
since the Marcos dictatorship was overthrown, the police and the military still
use the same torture methods employed during Martial Law. From February 1982
to October 1992, the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) recorded a
total of 3,171 torture cases. The same group also documented 179 cases during
the Ramos administration (1992-1998), and 53 cases during the Estrada
administration (1998 to January 2001).

The decreasing trend in the occurrence of torture from Marcos to Estrada
administration was reversed during the present Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
government because of its war on terrorism and heightened counter-insurgency
strategy. During the period of January 2001 to December 2008, TFDP documented
139 torture cases affecting 285 individuals.

While prohibition of
the use of torture is enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, there are
clear patterns that torture mainly occurs starting from the point of arrest,
through interrogation and detention. The period between arrest and presentation
of the arrested person before a judicial authority is a period conducive to
torture and ill-treatment on the person arrested. It is a well-known fact that
most of the persons arrested were subjected to torture and ill-treatment before
they were brought to a judicial authority. Hence the need for necessary
protection to the arrested person during this stage is considered to be crucial
to prevent torture and ill-treatment.

The widespread and
systematic use of torture in the Philippines could be mainly attributed to the
unwillingness of the government to protect, promote, and fulfil the provisions
stipulated under the CAT.

The government's
dereliction of its obligations under the CAT could be seen primarily through
its failure to enact a law criminalising acts of torture.  As a result, torture perpetrators have to be
charged with lesser crimes under the Revised Penal Code (RPC) such as
maltreatment, mutilation, physical injuries, administering injurious substances
or beverages, grave coercion and/or violation of RA 7438.  This situation contravenes the CAT because
the Committee emphasized that in comparison to torture, ill-treatment differs
in the severity of pain and suffering; consequently, it would be a violation of
the Convention to prosecute conduct solely as ill-treatments where elements of
torture are also present.

Worse, the government
itself through its counter-insurgency campaign, war on terrorism and
dysfunctional administration of criminal justice system has further set the
stage for the culture of torture and impunity in the Philippines to persist.

Consider this:

The SC upheld the 26
December 2007 decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) which granted the privilege
of the writ of amparo to
brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo who escaped from their abductors after 18
months of detention. Dr. Benito Molino of MAG, the examining physician,
prepared a written report on his findings. The report described the ordeal
suffered by the two, their present complaints, physical findings, remarks and
recommendations. It being well-nigh obvious from the testimonies of Manalo
brothers they were tortured by military officials, at the acquiescence of retired
Army General Jovito Palparan, Jr., former chief of the Army's 7th
Infantry Division.

The Philippines has
ratified major international human rights instruments that in one form
or the
other prohibit the use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. As
a State
Party to the CAT, the Philippines commits itself to ensure that under
its
criminal law all acts of torture, at any stage of commission, are
offense
punishable by appropriate law. The CAT establishes a regime of absolute
prohibition on torture under any circumstances. Prohibition of torture
is
"absolute and non-derogable" and "no exceptional circumstances"
whatsoever may
be invoked by a State to justify acts of torture as stated by the CAT.
Given these, the Philippines as a State Party is in breach of
its duties and obligations under the CAT. It must take expeditious and
decisive
steps to correct this situation beginning with the passage of
legislation
criminalising torture and invoking command responsibility of superior
officers
for the acts of their subordinates.

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT:

The Philippine civil
society, in the spirit of helping improve State Party compliance with the CAT
and defending the rights of the citizens to be free from torture, submitted 21
recommendations to the Philippine government through the UN Committee Against
Torture. Some of these are:

• To enact a law
  criminalising acts of torture in accordance with the provisions of the CAT,
  criminalising enforced disappearance; and imposing severe penalties on
  perpetrators;
• To immediately ratify and effectively
  implement the Optional Protocol Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or
  Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT);
• To ratify the International Convention for
  the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;
• To strengthen the Witness Protection
  Program under the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act (RA 6981) that
  will guarantee the safety of witnesses to torture incidents and other human
  rights violations. The government must give the highest priority to the funding
  of said program; 
• To repeal the Human Security Act of 2007
  (RA 9372)
  as it authorises preventive detention, expands the power of warrantless arrest
  and violates other basic constitutional rights;
• To amend the Philippine National Police
  Law (RA 6995 or PNP Law) to ensure thorough and impartial investigation by an
  independent body of police officers accused of committing human rights
  violations;
• To enact a law strengthening the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) with
  respect to its acquisition of quasi-judicial powers, enhanced investigative
  authority, other ancillary capacities, full-operational autonomy and
  independent nomination procedures in order to increase its ability to promote
  and protect human rights and improve its compliance to the Paris Principles;
• To ensure that all reports and complaints
  of torture against the police and military are investigated promptly,
  impartially and effectively, there must be a body independent from the PNP and
  the AFP who will conduct the investigation;

Until this
government undertakes to implement these recommendations, torture and the
culture of impunity will persist. This government can break free from the
culture of impunity by decisively bringing perpetrators before the bars of
justice. It can very well begin by filing cases against the notorious butcher
of human rights activists and defenders, Jovito Palparan.