Water torture used on Cotabato bus blast suspects?: ABS-CBN

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The mother of 2 of the suspects in the deadly Rural Transit Bus bombing in Matalam, North Cotabato has accused law enforcers of torturing her sons to own up to the crime.

Kalamma Alimanan, mother of Ibrahim Alimanan and Alamin Samal, said she was devastated when she saw the bruises on her sons.

In an interview, she said her sons were tortured to admit that they were the ones responsible for the bus bombing that killed 10 people last Thursday. At least one of her sons had 2 broken ribs, she said, while both had their heads held under water to simulate drowning.

"Niyakap ko sila tapos sabi nila, 'Mamang, tingnan mo, nabali ang dalawa kong ribs'. Nakita ko maitim na ang kanyang bewang. Sinabi din nila na binabalot sila sa ulo ng cellophane tapos nilublob sa tubig. Pinapaamin sa kasalanang hindi nila ginawa. Inosente ang mga anak ko," Kalamma said.

(I hugged them both and they said, 'Mama, look, 2 of my ribs are broken. I saw that the area near his waist was black. They also said that their heads were wrapped in cellophane and then dunked in water. They were being forced to admit to something they didn't do. My sons are innocent.)

She also said law enforcers did not show a warrant when arresting the 2. "I asked them if they had a warrant and they couldn't answer," she said.

Kalamma said their family will file a case against the authorities for violating her sons' rights. The 2 are currently facing charges of multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder before the Provincial Prosecutor's Office in Kidapawan City.

The Mindanao Human Rights Center based in Cotabato City said they will help ensure that the rights of the 2 suspects are protected.

MINHRAC executive director Atty. Zainudin Malang said that while he condemns the bus bombing, policemen should not violate the rights of people just to solve the case.

"We are calling the attention of the national government because what the police did last week is a violation of human rights," Malang said.

He also called on the local government of Cotabato City and the provincial government of Maguindanao to conduct a parallel investigation on the arrest done by authorities. (Lore Mae Andong - ABS-CBN Central Mindanao)

Educating torture 'experts' is pointless: AHRC

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The widely publicised video of a police torture has drawn mixed reactions and opinions from the public, including lawmakers, lawyers and human rights groups, who have all joined in the chorus condemning such a barbaric and cruel act.

Most of them share the opinion that 'lack of education of the law enforcers' is to blame for it happening but the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly argues that this is not the case.

While educating law enforcers about the content of the Anti-Torture Act of 2009 is necessary the lack of education of this law cannot be used as an excuse to justify the said incident. If there is anyone who are 'experts and well-educated' on the use of torture, it is the law enforcement officers themselves. Torture is not something so new that one has to be told that it is abhorrent and prohibited.

The enactment of the Anti-Torture Act in December 2009 did not mean that the term 'torture' just came into existence and was an alien concept to the law enforcers.

The term torture itself has been widely used and understood to refer to violence and cruelty perpetrated against a person. Before the right not to be tortured was included in the 1987 Constitution, the police and the military had already been practicing it, particularly during Martial law period against political dissenters.

Therefore, it would be too naïve to argue that the lack of education amongst law enforcers is to blame as to why it continues to persist. For any police officer who thinks with reason, torture is absolutely a condemnable act undeserving of those who wear the uniform of the Philippine National Police.

Some of the authors of the Anti-Torture Law were victims of torture themselves during the Martial Law regime. It is their experience, and that of countless others, that made the enactment of this law possible. It was also after the Marcos regime that the concept of the right against torture was first introduced in the Philippine Constitution. The torture victims, most of them in disbelief as to how cruel people of their own nationality could become, felt the depth of what torture really is. It meant being a witness of their own suffering long before this was written into law. Those who 'survived' have to suffer and live with the trauma of having been tortured for the rest of their lives.

Torture is not a result of ignorance and lack of education by the law enforcers. It is the absence of an effective mechanism that would hold them accountable. It is also this absence that breeds and develops a culture of violence amongst the law enforcers. When a law enforcer or torturer cannot be held accountable for torture or any other form of violence he would commit, this becomes an accepted norm which we know to have been thriving in the police force for decades.

This is what happened in the Philippines. The policeman who tortured the suspected thief in the video did not become a torturer overnight, but had learnt and developed his expertise of using torture and the accompanying mindset to an extent that has become acceptable to him because it is a commonplace practice.

Filipino policemen also do not become police officers overnight. The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM), two agencies who are responsible in training and recruiting applicants into the police force, require highly competitive academic qualifications, accomplishments and intensive training before it awards a policeman the rank of a police captain, the rank that the policeman in the video held. They also undergo civil service examinations, regular background checks and continuing education on law enforcement.

Also, the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA), one of the highly competitive police training academies, even conduct background checks of their recruits, by way if interviewing their family and persons who know the applicant, before admitting him for training to ensure that immoral persons or those with psychological problems would not be allowed in the academy. This is in addition to passing a lengthy qualifying examination.

Apart from training in the police academy, the PNP and NAPOLCOM also absorb applicants with a bachelor's degree in criminology and those who had already earned units from any social sciences course but were unable to graduate. This is also after passing a civil service examination.

Thus, those who are absorbed into the police force are either university graduates or have studied for years in a university. They are educated people and need not be told that torture is prohibited. They are have completed, at least the rudimentary teaching on logic, ethics, philosophy and the morals in the universities. They are certainly not uneducated.

When the policeman tortured the victim in the video, he did it consciously. It was not indiscriminate or an isolated case, as earlier mentioned by the police establishment. It reflects the tip of the iceberg as to the state of policing in country.

The emergence of further complaints on torture as reported in the media, after the video had been exposed, only demonstrates the ugly reality of the country's policing the surface of which has yet to be scratched. It is a matter that most of the people knew and had live with. Any further complaints must therefore be seriously acted upon under the law.

US activist who accused Philippine soldiers of abduction, torture returns to Manila

Melissa Roxas.

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 19, 2009) – A US woman who accused Philippine soldiers of abducting and torturing her is returning to Manila on Monday to pursue criminal charges against her captors.

The Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights said it provide protective custody to Melissa Roxas upon her from the US.

The human rights body said Roxas is coming back to attend the next hearing on her petition for a Writ of Amparo before the Court of Appeals. She will also testify before the Commission on Human Rights.

The US Embassy in Manila is also investigating the Roxas’ accusation.
She has accused the military of abducting her on May 19 and subjecting her to physical and mental torture. Two other left-wing activists, Juanito Carabeo and Edward Jandoc, were also abducted in the province on May 19.

Roxas was released six days later and has since then went back to the US.
In her petition for a Writ of Amparo, Roxas said she was detained blindfolded and in handcuffs in what she presumed was the Army’s Fort Magsaysay camp in Laur town in Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila.

There, Roxas said her captors repeatedly told her that she was being held because she was a member of the communist rebel group New People’s Army.

“This public hearing by the Commission on Human Rights will be carried out in line with its Constitutional mandate, to investigate human rights violations. The culture of impunity in the Philippines must be brought to an end.”

“These individuals and groups who carry out abductions and torture must be held to account. The government must take meaningful action to protect human rights in the Philippines, not merely in statements and on paper, but also in reality,” said lawyer Leila De Lima, who heads the Commission on Human Rights.

She said it is vital that the survivors of human rights violations are protected. Their safety and well-being, she said, must be safeguarded so they can be allowed to tell their stories and shed light on the true situation in the Philippines today.

“One of the best ways to help ensure the safety of Miss Roxas is to allow her to tell her story to the Filipino people and to the world. That is one more reason these hearings before the Court of Appeals and the Commission on Human Rights as well as the robust participation of media, are so important. Transparency and accountability will help keep Miss Melissa Roxas safe, and they will help keep all of us safe as well,” said De Lima.

The Philippine military has tried to cover up the scandal and even accused Roxas of staging her own abduction. (With a report from Mari Cruz)

PHILIPPINES: Soldiers torture a man with electric shocks to his sex organ to force a confession

ISSUES: Torture; right to liberty and security; administration of justice.


The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a man who was abducted by soldiers, tortured and held incommunicado for over three months remains in detention over questionable charges.

After abducting him on January 9, 2009, the soldiers tortured him to confess his involvement to the bombing and burning of houses in North Cotabato. He suffered electric shocks to his sex organ and was deprived of food.

CASE DETAILS: (According to information received from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP)-Mindanao)

On January 9, 2009 at 11am, Mansur Utto Salih was eating lunch with two others, Andy Makasaop and a person whose nickname is Gulam. At the time they were at Salih’s house and suddenly armed men entered. One of them shot at Salih prompting the latter to drop to the floor for cover.

Two men bound Salih and Andy's wrists, blindfolded and gagged them with adhesive tape.

The armed men then loaded Salih and Andy onto their vehicle that took them somewhere for about 30 minutes. In this place they could hear the sound of an airplane prompting them to believe that they must have been inside military headquarters of 6th Infantry Division (ID), Philippine Army (PA), in Barangay Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao. The military's headquarter is also located at the Awang Airport.

The two were then taken inside a room and the adhesive tape binding their wrists were replaced with handcuffs (the scars were still visible when the interview was conducted). Salih and Andy were held incommunicado separately. Salih later learned that Andy had been released but he could not determine when. Unlike Andy, however, Salih was held for over three months.

When interviewed on April 16, 2009, Salih spoke of the torture and ill treatment he endured. His ankles were chained and the soldiers applied electric shocks to his sex organ, his body and behind his ears. Each time they applied the electricity the held it against him for four seconds.

Whenever he fainted they poured cold water on his face and body. He could no longer recall how many times he fainted. Both his feet became swollen when they were struck repeatedly with an iron bar. He was also punched about the stomach and chest several times. Salih sensed that there were three persons questioning him while six others were torturing him. During the questioning he was also deprived of food and water.

For seven consecutive days, Salih had experienced the same ordeal. He also noticed that he had been taken to three different rooms in which he was interrogated and tortured. Within this period, he was only given food and water on two occasions. He also remained chained.

On January 16, 2009, Salih was loaded onto a vehicle, handcuffed and blindfolded and taken somewhere on a journey that he believes lasted for about three hours. Upon reaching their destination, he was taken to a room where he was fed. But, as soon as he finished eating he was shoved to the cement floor. There, he was held incommunicado for two weeks. During those two weeks he was not beaten but only fed only once a day, either breakfast or lunch.

After two weeks of his detention, his custodian began spoon feeding him. However, when Salih asked the custodian to feed him slowly so that he had enough time to chew the food he would be punched. If he allowed the food to fall the person feeding him would hit his mouth with a spoon, kick him and punched his face. He was also fed with one or two spoonfuls of chilies every meal.

His ordeal went on until March 28, 2009. On that day, he was taken back to the military headquarters at the Awang Airport where he was held until April 6, 2009. During the entire day of the journey he was not given food and water.

On one occasion from between March 28 and April 6, Salih recalled having been taken to a doctor. However, Salih said the doctor did not properly examine him. He was only asked if he was in pain and checked his blood pressure. Salih was reluctant to tell the doctor of his ordeal as he was hoping that, should he keep quiet about what had happened to him, they would release him.

However, on April 7, 2009 at 12noon, Salih was first taken and remanded to the North Cotabato Provincial Jail in Amas, Kidapawan City. Two of those taking him in custody made him sign some documents, the contents of which was also not properly explained to him. It was learned later that those who had remanded him to prison were soldiers. It was only after entering the jail that his handcuffs and blindfold were removed by a jail guard.

To cover up the incident, the soldiers who took custody of him, deliberately falsified the date they took custody of the victim to April 1, instead of January 9, 2009.

Salih later learned that he had been charged with two counts of frustrated murder, in connection with the bombing incident that took place in Kidapawan City, and 29 counts of Arson regarding the burning of houses that took place in 2008, reportedly perpetrated by a rebel commander before the Regional Trial Court in Midsayap, North Cotabato.

Although Salih's case is being heard in courts in North Cotabato province, in June 2009 he was transferred to a jail in Bicutan, Metro Manila. His transfer was prompted by a resolution approved by members of City Council of Kidapawan City for his and several other detainees who are considered "high risk". The transfer took place after armed men attacked the North Cotabato Provincial jail.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The AHRC has documented cases wherein persons, mostly those persons who are accused of or suspected of perpetrating bombings, are subjected to brutal torture and held incommunicado at the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division's (ID), Philippine Army, at the premises of Awang Airport.

In April 2002, five persons, two of whom were at the time minors, were taken into the headquarters after having been arrested in separate incidents. They were accused of perpetrating the bomb blast in Davao City. They were blindfolded, electrocuted, beaten, and suffered dry and wet methods of suffocation to forced them to admit that they perpetrated the bombings.

In January 2004, a man was also tortured inside the headquarters. He was kicked, beaten and electrocuted. His fingers were squeezed after putting bullets in between them and he was forced to drink something that smelled like urine. They threatened to dump him into a canal and feed his sex organ to a dog.

In May 2007, two men, both belonging to Muslim minorities, were also tortured inside the headquarters following their arrest over allegations they were involved in incidents of bombing in Central Mindanao. They were also deprived of food.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the government agencies below to ensure that an impartial investigation is conducted into the abduction, torture and detention of the victim.

Those responsible, in particular the soldiers who remanded him to prison and the military leadership to the camp where he was held incommunicado, should be identified and prosecuted. The charges laid on him in court must be thoroughly reviewed. Once proven that the evidence on him was obtained by way of torture it must be withdrawn.

The AHRC has also written letters to the Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture asking for his intervention into this case.


SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear_______,

Re: PHILIPPINES: Soldiers torture a man with electric shocks to his sex organ to force a confession

Name of the victim:

1. Mansur Utto Salih, 32 years old, married, a resident of Sitio Project, Ungap, Sultan Kudarat, Maguinadanao Province. He belongs to a Maguindanaon tribe. About nine persons interrogated and tortured him one after the other while he was held incommunicado inside a military camp in Barangay (village) Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao. He is presently detained in a jail in Bicutan, Metro Manila.

2. Andy Makasaop. He was released without any charges ahead of Salih.
Alleged perpetrators: Soldiers attached to the 6th Infantry Division (ID), Philippine Army (PA) whose headquarters are located in Awang Airport.
Place where the victims were abducted: Sitio project, Upper Ungap, municipality of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao

Date of incident: After he was abducted on January 9, 2009, he was held incommunicado detention until April 7, 2009.

I am writing to express my concern regarding the abduction, torture and detention of Mansur Utto Salih. He and his companion, Andy Makasaop, were abducted on January 9, 2009. They were taken to a place they came to know later as the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division, Philippine Army at the Awang Airport in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

Soon after arriving at the military camp, they were taken to separate rooms where they were subjected to questioning, torture and were held incommunicado. The adhesive tapes used to bind their wrists when they were abducted were then replaced with handcuffs. Their ankles were chained.

Although Makasaop had been released without charged, the soldiers kept Salih for over three months where he was subjected to questioning. He was tortured and moved from one interrogation room to the other.

For example, upon arriving at the Awang Airport on January 6, 2009, those questioning him applied electric shocks to his sex organ, his body and behind his ears several times. Each electrocution lasted about four seconds.

When he lost consciousness the soldiers poured water over him. His feet became swollen after being beaten with an iron bar. Those who tortured him forced him to confess masterminding the bombing incident in Kidapawan City and burning of houses in Midsayap, North Cotabato in 2008.

For seven consecutive days, Salih was tortured in the same manner in three different interrogation rooms. On those days, he was only given food twice and a glass of water. He could also not move properly as his ankles were chained and his eyes were blindfolded. The ordeal continued from the time of his abduction until he was remanded to the North Cotabato Provincial Jail in Amas, Kidapawan City on April 7, 2009.

I am extremely shocked at how the soldiers have treated the victim. The manner of his arrest, investigation and detention violates all the legal procedures that should have been strictly observed in arresting a person accused of a crime. Not only did the soldiers deliberately usurp the police power on arrest, they also turned their own military headquarters into a torture chamber.

Apart from Salih's case, there have also been previous cases in the past wherein persons, particularly those who are accused or suspected by the soldiers as having been involved in bomb attacks or rebel activities, have been tortured soon after being taken inside their military headquarters at the premises of Awang Airport, Cotabato City.

I therefore urge you to ensure that the victim's allegation of abduction, torture and being held incommunicado are thoroughly investigated. Should it be proven that the evidence used in the charges laid on him in court for bombing in Kidapawan City and burning of houses that took place in Midsayap in 2008 was taken by way of torture, they must be withdrawn. It is unacceptable that this person has had to face trial to charges that are questionable.

Lastly, I urge the Philippine government to live up to its obligation to the United Nation's Convention against Torture (CAT) to ensure protection to victims of torture. It should also take prompt action to ensure that the pending bill criminalizing torture is acted upon.


PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President
Republic of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel
Manila 1005
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 736 1010
Tel: +63 2 735 6201 / 564 1451 to 80

2. Ms. Leila De Lima
Commissioner
Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue
U.P. Complex, Diliman
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 929 0102
Tel: +63 2 928 5655 / 926 6188
E-mail: mtm_rodulfo@yahoo.com

3. Deputy Director General Jesus A. Verzosa
Chief, Philippine National Police (PNP)
Camp General Rafael Crame
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2724 8763
Tel: +63 2 726 4361/4366/8763
E-mail: ruth_cossid@yahoo.com

4. Ms. Agnes Devanadera
Secretary
Department of Justice (DoJ)
DOJ Bldg., Padre Faura
1004 Manila
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 521 1614
E-mail: raulgonzalez_doj@yahoo.com

5. Lieutenant General Victor S. Ibrado
Chief of Staff
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
AFP-GHQ Offices, Camp Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 911 6436
Tel: +63 2 911 6001 to 50

6. Mr. Quinciano V. Bueno
Regional Director
CHR, Region 12
Pascua Bldg., Arellano Street
Koronadal City
PHILIPPINES
Tel: +63 83 5538887

7. Mr. Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr.
Secretary
Department of National Defense
Room 301 DND Bldg., Camp Emelio Aguinaldo
E. de los Santos Avenue
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 911 6213
Tel: +63 2 911 9281 / 911 0488
E-mail: osnd@philonline.com

8. Mr. Avelino Razon
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)
7th Floor Agustin Building I
Emerald Avenue
Pasig City 1605
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 638 2216
Tel: +63 2 636 0701 to 066
E-mail: osec@opapp.gov.ph

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

UN Committee Against Torture Releases Recommendations; Human Rights Group Urges RP To Abide

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

PHILIPPINES: Government must implement CAT Committee’s recommendations as a matter of priority

On 14 May 2009, the United Nation’s Committee Against Torture released its recommendations (CAT/C/PHL/CO2) following the conclusion of its periodic review of the Philippines on its implementation of the Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

The Philippines is a State party to the Convention since its ratification on June 1986.

The Committee’s recommendations are also shared by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), who, in its effort to assist the Committee in the process of its review of the Philippines’ record in the implementation of the CAT Convention, also submitted an alternative report through its sister organisation, the Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC). The Committee’s observation, nevertheless, has expressed, at least in part, the ALRC’s analysis of the problem.

The AHRC and the ALRC therefore urges the Philippine government to consider as their priority the following:

On access to lawyers, judicial custody of a detainee
In most cases, once a person is arrested and subsequently detained, the policemen or the military that arrested them, are deliberately preventing them from having contact with lawyers and their family members; and they are subjected to custodial investigation without the presence or assistance of legal counsel. A person’s right to have access to lawyers and being turned over to judicial authority is envisaged in Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or under Custodial Investigation (RA 7438) and article 125 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines.

The present practice in courts in the Philippines is that the burden to prove that the arrested person’s testimony and confession taken under duress is a product of torture rests upon the torture victims and not on the prosecution panel. Thus, by failing to ensure, by way of strictly implementing the provisions of these laws, torture victims have already been, at the early stage, at risk of being prosecuted for testimonial evidence taken as a result of torture. It also effectively denies any possibilities of redress and remedies for these victims.

"Lack of investigations into cases of torture"

The lack of or ‘seldom investigation and prosecution’ of torture committed by law enforcement agents and soldiers demonstrates that the complaint mechanism that exists today does not encouraged victims or complainants to file complaints; and that the fear and threats are very real once a person comes forward to complain. There, the number or statistics of torture cases that come to notice are seen, at least on the part of the government, as isolated cases. However, these statistics alone do not speak to the severity of the problem.

The government must admit that torture reported in police stations, on complaints filed with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), cases documented by the NGOs and cases to which their attention had been called to intervene, are just the tip of the iceberg and speaks of the extent of the problem arrested persons, regardless of whether their cases are politically motivated or an ordinary crime, have to confront on a daily basis.

When Eduardo Ermita, secretary to the executive branch, questioned the 1,016 cases of torture that NGOs reported to the Committee, the lack of government knowledge into these cases, illustrates the deep distrust and lack of confidence amongst that torture victims have in filing formal complaints with the government agencies responsible for conducting investigations. In the Philippines, torture victims tend to seek assistance and help from NGOs in seeking redress and remedies; thus, it is nothing new that often NGOs have more access to the documentation than the government.

Thus, the government should refrain from immediately questioning the credibility and merits of the cases and undermining the credibility of NGOs, but rather they should make efforts to look into these cases.

"Abolish de facto detention facilities"

The police and soldiers must also abolish the practice of arbitrarily detaining persons whom they arrested in the detention facilities or places that are not legally registered according to the law. The lack of detention facilities or the inability to turn over the custody of an arrested person to proper detention centres and jails cannot be used as an excuse to justify detention of arrested persons in camps, safe houses and other places, wherein they would be subjected to interrogation.

The continued practice and maintenance of these places is putting torture victims at risk, not only of being tortured, but also of being disappeared or extra judicially killed. The lack of records or traces of the person’s detention would mean that it is not possible for any investigating authorities, including the CHR, even if they have Constitutional rights or a mandate to conduct unannounced visits to places of detention, to determine the whereabouts and condition of arrested persons. Therefore, unless these practice and these places are abolished, there is no guarantee that once a person is arrested they are taken to detention center or jails where their relatives or lawyers could see them.

"Repeal law espousing torture"

As the Committee has also mentioned, the provision contained in the Human Security Act of 2007, which allows prolonged detention of suspects for 72 hours, even without arrest orders is of serious concern. Given the continuing practice of the police and soldiers on numerous occasions making arrests without court orders, detention of arrested persons in not legally recognized detention facilities and the use of torture in custodial investigations aggravates the practice of torture.

There should be a thorough review on this law and it should be repealed according to human rights norms and standards. The AHRC is deeply concerned by the abuse in interpreting this law by way of filing charges of terror acts against persons, including activists. This is despite of the fact that the basis on which the crime should have been committed under this act does not exist. One case is the arbitrary arrest and subsequent filing of terrorism charges against three activists campaigning against the renewed operation of a nuclear plant in the province of Bataan.

Although the law provides that an act of terror that a person is alleged to have committed should have a component of ‘widespread panic’ and demands are made of the government the present practice among the prosecutors and policemen investigating cases of this nature does not satisfy the requirements for taking a case to court.

Also, the declaration of an emergency rule, in particular in a Proclamation No. 1 Series of 2009 that took effect in 31 March 2009 in Sulu province, should also be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (SC) where a petition challenging this declaration is presently pending. The government should also ensure that this rule, if it continues to be imposed, be lifted without further delay. This rule also had provisions which tolerate the police and soldiers in conducting illegal searches, arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention and to subject arrested persons to investigation in absence of lawyers.

"Strengthen the law on Witness Protection"

The AHRC has in the past raised deep concerns by the ineffective implementation of the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act (RA 6981). It appears though that despite repeated appeals to have this law amended in order to strengthen it there has not been substantial progress—the draft bill strengthening this law has not been enacted. The Department of Justice (DoJ), who is the implementing agency of this programme must ensure that it take proactive measures to implement this law.

As already mentioned, the failure to ensure that complainants are encourage in filing complaints of torture, one of which is to ensure that their concerns of threats, fear of reprisal from the perpetrators and of being subjected to intimidation, have also resulted in the numerous complaints not being reported for investigation, and which subsequently, are not filed in court for prosecution. Thus, the lack of an effective and well functioning witness protection mechanism is crucial to ensure the possibility of effective prosecution of cases.

"Excessive court delays"

The case of the Abadilla Five speaks to the endemic problem that torture victims and complainants have to face in seeking legal remedies and redress. In this case, 13 years after their complaint of torture was filed, none of the policemen and other persons involved in torturing them have been held to account. The failure of the Office of the Ombudsman for Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (MOLEO) should provide an explanation to why they have continued to fail in concluding this case.

By failing to conclude this case, it continues to prevent other torture victims and complainants from taking legal remedies and obtaining redress in their cases. If the MOLEO fails to conclude this decade-old case there would also be no assurance at all that new cases relating to torture would be acted upon promptly.

"Ensure legislation of a domestic law on torture promptly"

Finally, the AHRC once again calls upon the government to ensure that the present bill on torture, pending before the Senate and the House of Representatives, be enacted without further delay according to the provision of the CAT. This is crucial, as an initial step to ensure that torture victims would have the possibilities of obtaining remedies and redress to the violations committed upon them.

The AHRC is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

FilAm activist accuses military of torture

MANILA, Philippines – (Philippine Daily Inquirer / June 2, 2009) - A Filipino-American activist who went missing for six days has claimed that she was tortured by military operatives and asked the Supreme Court for protection.

In her petition for a Writ of Amparo, Melissa Roxas said she was detained blindfolded and in handcuffs in what she presumed was Fort Magsaysay in Laur town, Nueva Ecija province, a major military camp in the north.

There, Roxas said her captors repeatedly told her that she was being held because she was a member of the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army).

Fort Magsaysay is over an hour-long drive from La Paz town, Tarlac province, where Roxas and two other left-wing activists, Juanito Carabeo and Edward Jandoc, were abducted last May 19. Jandoc remains missing.

Named respondents in Roxas’ petition were: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Victor Ibrado, Philippine National Police Chief Director General Jesus Verzosa, and Army Chief Lieutenant General Delfin Bangit.

Roxas’ lawyer, Rex Fernandez, filed the petition before the high tribunal on Tuesday.

“The distance of the travel and the sounds heard by petitioner [Roxas] in the place where the petitioner and the two men were brought, as well as the buildings described by petitioner, are places inside Fort Magsaysay,” according to the petition.

Roxas recounted her ordeal in the petition, saying: “I heard construction activities – blowtorching, hammering and the construction bustle – and these stopped in the late afternoon and I also heard gun firing as though in a firing range and planes taking off and landing and it was loud and I could also hear goats bleating.”

The activist said she slept light on her first night there, and in the morning, she was interrogated without being served breakfast or lunch. She said she was also not allowed to see a lawyer.

“I was asked repeatedly if I knew why I was there and was told by them that I was abducted because I was a member of the CPP-NPA,” she said.

She said her captors told her that “it was because of people like me who are costing the government so much money and people like me are the ones who are making it difficult for the government.”

Roxas said several men took turns in interrogating her, including a certain RC and a certan Dex, whom she called as her "religious interrogators" because they only discussed religion and the evils of communism to her.

She said she sought for a certain Rose, the female in the next barracks who helped her take a bath, with the plan of finally talking to her, "to delay the expected torture."

Throughout the interrogation, Roxas refused to talk and kept telling the men that she had rights.

“I did not answer and he would hit me on the chest strongly and I would lose breath and gasped for air after and then he would press my throat with his thumb and say ‘Huh…huh…huh!’ and I would gag and then he would hit me on my jaws, ringing my ears and numbing my jaws,” Roxas said.

“I would see a flash of white bright light and ringing in my ears and again the pressure to my throat with the ‘Huh … huh…huh.’ And saying to me, ‘ayaw mo pa din magsasalita [you still don’t want to talk]’ and then punched me in my rib cage and I crumpled but the other men forced me up. This torture continued and every time I crumpled the other men would force me up,” she said in a sworn affidavit.

Roxas continued, “I was having a streaming thought that I was going to die there and then, they held my feet and my hands down and doubled up plastic bags were pulled down on my head and face and closed on my neck and I started to suffocate and I could not breath anymore and I was seeing white and thinking I was going to die and then he released the hold and I could breathe but I was faint and weak [lantang lanta] and he patted me in the back and several men carried me to my cell.”

She said she was asked to sign a document and when she refused to, she was brought to another room where the interrogator “gripped and pressed my right shoulder hard.”

“It was very painful because there was a dislocation and he knew I had that dislocation and when he was telling me that I was hardheaded he pounded his pointer finger on my forehead and it hurt," she said.

When she was released, Roxas said her captors gave her a SIM card so that they could contact her. As they dropped her off a few feet from her house, she said her captors also warned her against contacting the human rights group Karapatan.

She said her abductors also warned her that they would monitor all her movements. They also took her memory card, iPod music player, laptop, journal, sphygmomanometer, stethoscope and P15,000 in cash.

“I was so afraid to go out believing that they were just around monitoring me that I just stayed inside the room not even going out of that room…” she said.

Roxas said her cousin threw away the SIM card but she kept the clothes, handcuffs, and a piece of paper containing an email address and password that her captors had created for her, which would be used as evidence.

“There is credible basis to say that Melissa was abducted by the military as part of the government’s counter-insurgency operations. The abduction and torture were clear violations of her rights. It is despicable and those involved must be made accountable,” said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes, Jr.

Reyes said that the matter has been brought to the attention of the US embassy in Manila.

Roxas bore bruises when she was surfaced last week, said Doctor Reggie Pumagas of the Health Action for Human Rights. (By Tetch Torres, Thea Alberto, Lira Dalangin-Fernandez / INQUIRER.net)


Link: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view/20090602-208434/FilAm-activist-accuses-military-of-torture

RP Military Denies Torturing Civilians In Jolo Island

JOLO ISLAND, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 02 Sept) – The Philippine military denied Sunday reports that soldiers tortured civilians arrested on suspicion they had links with Abu Sayyaf militants tied to al-Qaeda terror network.

Troops were accused of torturing eight children and their parents last month after being arrested in Jolo island, where security forces were hunting down Abu Sayyaf militants blamed for the spate of killings and kidnappings in the southern Philippines.

“The reports are not true and the military is not engage and will not engage in torture. We always uphold the rights of every civilian,” Army Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan, whose group was implicated in the torture, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Regional Social Welfare Secretary Bai Racma Imam, who was also quoted in the reports, also denied statements attributed to her.

“I did not say anything. I did not accuse the military of torture and the reports are simply not true. My lawyer will issue a statement about this report,” Imam said in a separate interview.

The report quoted a defeated politician in Jolo island as the source of the news. The report published in a newspaper in Manila was also picked up by foreign media.

Philippine military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon also ordered the military in Jolo island to explain the accusation. Pabustan said they submitted their reports and flatly denied the allegations. (Mindanao Examiner)

Philippine Soldiers Accused Of Torturing Muslims Linked To Rebels

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 05 Feb) – The Moro Islamic Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) accused Monday Philippine soldiers of torturing five Muslim villagers they seized in North Cotabato province, scene of clashes between security and rebel forces.

It said members of the Philippine Army’s reconnaissance unit tortured the five, one of them a mother, into admitting they were MILF rebels. The five, the MILF, said were only farmers who fled last week’s fighting between rebels and troops in Midsayap town.

One of the five, identified only as Harun, was badly beaten that he was rushed to hospital in Cotabato City. And the rest had been mauled by soldiers and that two claimed they were clubbed with a hammer on the head and hands by their interrogator to force them to admit they were terrorists.

The four, Mira Matelendo, 29; and brothers Tho, 24; Bahnarin, 18; and Endong Alim, 16, were searching for food in the village of Kadingilan to bring back to a government refugee shelter nearby when soldiers arrested them.

An MILF cease-fire unit and members of the Malaysia-led international truce monitoring team rescued the four on Sunday; about four hours after soldiers arrested them.

The MILF said many Muslim villagers had been arrested and tortured in North Cotabato after accusing them as members of the rebel group, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila.

“I was frightened to death while we were in the hands of the soldiers. All that was in my mind is my five-month old baby. It also came into my mind that Tho will be killed when the soldiers took him from us and brought him to one place,” Mira said.

The MILF on Monday protested the arrest and torture of the civilians and it will bring the matter to the attention of the government peace panel.

Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF, said a Muslim preacher was earlier arrested by soldiers in Midsayap town on suspicion that he was a rebel. A Muslim woman, he said, was also shot and wounded by patrolling soldiers near a farm after tagging her as a rebel.

“How can the government win the hearts and minds of Muslims in the southern Philippines when they continue to live under the shadow of constant fear and oppression by soldiers? Where is justice here?” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, denied the accusations and branded the reports as propaganda. “They are all lies. It is propaganda. Soldiers are here to protect the civilians against bad elements,” he said in a separate interview.

Last week, rebels and soldiers clashed sporadically for three days in Midsayap town, killing at least 2 people and had forced about 6,000 villagers to flee their homes after government planes, backed by combat helicopters, assaulted suspected MILF strongholds.

Mohager Iqbal, the MILF’s chief peace negotiator, said the fighting erupted after armed militias and Christian landowners tried to drive away local Muslim villagers, some of them members of the MILF. He said the soldiers sided with the militias and attacked rebel forces, sparking sporadic, but fierce clashes since Friday.

The MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, is fighting for independence the past three decades. It signed a cease-fire with the government in 2001 that paved the way for the peace talks, but despite the truce, sporadic clashes still continue in many areas in the troubled region with both sides accusing each other of violating the fragile accord. (Mindanao Examiner)