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ALRC-PRL-001-2009

PHILIPPINES: ALRC's alternative report on torture considered

(Hong Kong, April 29, 2009) The United Nations Committee Against Torture (the Committee) concluded its review of the Government of the Philippines’ implementation of the Conventions Against Torture (CAT) today. To assist the Committee in its review, the Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC) submitted an alternative report in which it provided details concerning numerous cases of torture that it has documented and analysis concerning the authorities’ shortcomings as concerns their obligations under the Convention. The full text of the ALRC’s report can be read at: http://www.alrc.net/PDF/ALRC-TBR-001-2009-Philippines.pdf.

The ALRC’s sister organization, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), also endorsed a Joint Civil Society that was one of the seven reports that have been submitted by civil society to inform the Committee’s review.

The ALRC’s report points to the government’s failure to legislate a law against torture since ratifying the Convention and the lack of effective and credible investigations into cases of torture, which contributes significantly to the impunity that is enjoyed by the perpetrators of this grave human rights violation in the Philippines.

The police and military’s use of torture is endemic in the country and near-systematic in cases of persons arrested on suspicion of having been involved in a rebel group or terrorist activities.

Victims’ deeply entrenched distrust and lack of confidence in the State’s investigation mechanisms, notably the police, resulting from a lack of effective and impartial investigations in the past, means that few dare make complaints, resulting in a lack of prosecutions of those responsible.

The police are incapable of or unwilling to conduct thorough and credible investigations. Investigations are typically carried out in order to exonerate those alleged to have committed the offences. There is also a serious lack of scientific methods of investigation, such as forensics.

The report also mentions cases wherein policemen, who were accused of beating a man during his arrest with a stone, have been exonerated by their police commander investigating the complaints on the pretext that the injuries the victim had suffered were a result of a ‘justifiable degree of force’.

Also, on two occasions, the Office of the Ombudsman for the Military and Other law Enforcement Offices (MOLEO), who investigate allegations of wrong doing against security forces, also exonerated the policemen who were accused of arbitrarily arresting and subsequently detaining a woman activist whom they had threatened to kill, by invoking the doctrine of ‘presumption of regularity’.

This doctrine means that when security forces perform their duties, they must have been regular and carried out according to the law. However, in reality this has since been used as a convenient excuse, not only to frustrate investigations at the early stages, but also to justify the impunity enjoyed by members of the security forces accused of torture.

MOLEO is also incapable of promptly concluding the investigation of complaints submitted to it for prosecution in court. The ALRC’s report pointed out that the torture complaint of the ‘Abadilla Five’ has been pending for 13 years. Despite the passage of time, the complaint remains at the preliminary stage of inquiry, despite the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) finding that there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the perpetrators.

In most of the court proceedings, once a torture victim lays charges as a result of torture, the burden of proof rests upon him. Allegations of torture victims themselves have since been systematically ignored by the court as they observed that should this be taken up in trial it could result to violation of ‘subjudice rule’. Other investigating agency, like the regional office of the CHR in Davao, has refused to take action on complaints of torture for fear of being cited for contempt.

Thus, for the torture victims the courts themselves have become complicit in the prosecution of torture victims.

Although the Philippines 1987 Constitution prohibits the use of torture and use of evidence or confession obtained under duress, the police and soldiers have routinely been forcing victims into signing waivers, effectively making them immune from prosecution.

Apart from the difficulty of pursuing cases in court, torture victims are also frequently deprived of the possibility of seeking adequate compensation as the law, Republic Act 7309, stipulates that applications for compensation claims are to be made within six months of the incident. The lack of proper procedures or information available to victims to assist them in this process often means that they are not able to make complaints in time.

The ALRC’s report also highlights the failure of judges to effectively implement existing rules requiring them to conduct monthly visits, hold inventories of detainees and assess all detention facilities located in their jurisdiction. This failure results in some detainees being held in jail beyond their prison terms, or detainees dying under suspicious circumstances without the possibility of having their deaths thoroughly investigated.

The ALRC has made specific recommendations in concluding its report for the Committee and the Government of the Philippines to consider, which would lead to the improved prevention of the practice of torture and for victims to obtain legal remedies.

This report was made possible by years of documentation carried out by the Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights (KARAPATAN) and their member organisations, as well as Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) and others who cannot be named for their security.

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About the ALRC: The Asian Legal Resource Centre is an independent regional non-governmental organisation holding general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is the sister organisation of the Asian Human Rights Commission. The Hong Kong-based group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human rights issues at the local and national levels throughout Asia.