Philippines adopts international standards vs torture

THE PHILIPPINES has aligned with international standards against torture, following the Senate’s ratification of a United Nations (UN) treaty.

In a unanimous vote, the Senate last week approved on third and final reading a resolution which concurs with the accession to the “Optional protocol to the UN Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (UNCAT).”

The Senate is the only government body to validate treaties and international agreements.

President Benigno S. C. Aquino III acceded to the protocol earlier this year and had submitted it to the Senate for concurrence.

The foreign relations committee, headed by Senator Loren B. Legarda, last February, started hearings with concerned government agencies, civil society organizations and the academe.

“The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which the Philippines is a state party provides that no one shall be subjected to torture,” read Resolution 664, which was introduced by the foreign relations committee.

The optional protocol places emphasis on preventing violations and introduces a new system of monitoring compliance to the UNCAT, which the country ratified in 1986, it added.

Under the protocol, the country is mandated to create a subcommittee on prevention of torture under a state committee. The subcommittee, to be funded by the United Nations, shall consist of 10 members with professional experience in criminal law, jail management or police administration, or other related fields, it added.

Currently, the only agency in the country that is assigned to safeguard people from torture is the Commission on Human Rights.

Each state that accedes to the agreement is also required to enforce “preventive mechanisms for the prevention of torture at the domestic level,” the protocol said.

The country has already made inroads at this provision through the enactment of landmark legislation via the Republic Act 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act.

Moreover, the protocol will establish a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies “to places where people are deprived of their liberty,” the protocol stated.

In 2007, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston met with government officials, civil society representatives, witnesses of extrajudicial killings, and the family members of victims.

This occurred following media reports of political killings under the administration of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

A government investigation recommended that military officials, notably retired major general Jovito S. Palparan, be held liable for the deaths.

However, the administration of Mrs. Arroyo never filed raps against the former general.

Mr. Palparan was charged last Friday with the kidnapping of two student-activists from the University of the Philippines and is now in hiding.

An arrest warrant was issued against Mr. Palparan last Monday. — Antonio Siegfrid O. Alegado, Businessworld