Enact the Anti-Torture Law

The Filipinos seem to be decreasingly proud of having a large population of Christians—despite the show of affection by millions for the notably Christian late former President Cory Aquino.

This is because they can see that people in power are remarkably lacking in the Christian virtues. Corruption in high and low seats of power is a pervasive unchristian characteristic in our country. These corrupt powerholders’ insensitivity to the extreme poverty and hunger of a large portion of our people is another sign of their Godlessness.

Cruelty and abusiveness of officers

The cruelty and abusiveness of law-enforcement and military officers and personnel are another unchristian vice in our country. These officers commit abuses and practice torture with impunity.

Torture of actual communists and suspected communists was prevalent during the martial law regime. Many of the torturers then, far from being punished for having practiced their satanic art on victims who have lived to narrate their sufferings, have even become so rich and so politically powerful that they are immune from arrest and accountability. Their continued presence in our society mocks of our claim to be a civilized people. Not only are the martial-law era torturers still around. They have even spawned a new breed of state-employed torturers.

The latest example of a torture victim is the Filipino-American Melissa Roxas. She has tearfully and publicly sworn to the truth of her claim that she was abducted and tortured by military agents. Her detractors (who are suspected by many and identified by some witnesses as human rights abusers involved in the murder of militants) claim that Melissa Roxas is in fact a communist rebel. They have shown a video of someone who looks somewhat like Melissa participating in what appears to be a New People’s Army training drill. Melissa and some witnesses swear the girl in the video is someone else—the person that her torturer-abductors mistook Melissa to be.

Torture is inhuman, abhorrent, immoral—unchristian. The law-enforcement and military officers who practice it must be stopped and punished. But it is difficult to get to them. Their superiors are allowed to shield them from civilian prosecutors. If apprehended, they can only be charged with abduction, illegal detention and infliction of bodily harm now in our criminal statutes.

That situation is about to change. An “Anti-Torture Act” could become a part of the law of the land before August ends.

Bicameral conference committee approval

On Monday, a Senate-House bicameral conference committee approved the consolidated version of the bill that would, if enacted, outlaw torture, require the police, military and other agencies that maintain detention centers to be transparent and report on these centers’ locations and activities.

Senator Francis Escudero, chairman of the bicam committee’s Senate panel and chairman also of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said the law would impose harsh punishment on officials or agents of the state found guilty of torturing and allowing the torture of detainees.

He said the lawmakers agreed on including the principle of command responsibility in the law so that a superior military or police officer could be held liable for acts of torture perpetrated by his subordinates.

Senator Escudero said the law would ban secret places of detention.

He said the law would augment the budget of the Commission on Human Rights—initially by P5 million—to give it the means and capability to investigate cases of torture and provide assistance to victims.

Torturers can still derail the bill

Next week, the final bicam-approved version of the Anti-Torture bill is to be presented to the Senate and House of Representatives for plenary ratification. This gives the torturers a chance to pressure the powerful allies of the President in Congress to derail it. If they fail, they can also try to make the President desist from signing it.

The people must mobilize the power of vigilance and prayer.

On Tuesday, elated by the bicam committee’s action on Monday, Chairman Leila de Lima issued a statement. It recalls that the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) was ratified by the Philippines on June 18, 1986 during the presidency of Corazon C. Aquino.

“Under Article 2, paragraph 1 of this Convention, Chairman de Lima’s statement says, ‘Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.’ To date, no Anti-Torture Law has been enacted by Congress, more than twenty years after the Philippines’ ratification of the Convention.”

The statement continues, “Last May 2009, the United Nations Committee Against Torture reviewed the Philippines’ State Report on its implementation of CAT. The country’s official delegation during the said review was no less than Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita himself, Chair of the Presidential Human Rights Committee . . . One of the central issues raised by the UN Committee is the failure of government to enact a law translating the provisions of CAT into national legislation.”

So, the UN Committee specifically recommended that the Philippine state “should incorporate into domestic law the crime of torture and adopt a definition of torture that covers all of the elements contained in article 1 of the Convention.” It urged the Philippines “to enact the Anti-Torture Bill as soon as possible.”

CHR commends Escudero and Tañada

Chairman Leila de Lima commended the “human rights champions in the persons of Senator Francis ‘Chiz’ G. Escudero, Chair of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, and his House counterpart, Congressman Lorenzo ‘Erin’ R. Tañada 3rd. We commend their dedication and sincerity in conscientiously working on the Anti-Torture bills in their respective chambers. We also commend all the stakeholders, both government and civil society, who participated in the deliberation of the proposed bills.” –Manila Times