“The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is an occasion to underscore the internationally recognized right of all men and women to live free from torture. It is an opportunity to reaffirm our collective commitment to prohibit torture and all cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.”
-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
Message for the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture 2010
Today, as the world commemorates the United Nation’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Karapatan through its chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez expressed concern on the continuing practice of torture and ill-treatment being committed by the Philippine State security forces against Filipinos and persons they suspect as “enemies of the state, terrorists or rebels”, all in the name of “anti-terrorism or national or internal security program .”
“What makes it worst is the AFP’s barefaced denial that they use torture against those whom they arrest and detain, making it appear that the victims and witnesses are liars,” claims Hilao-Enriquez.
Earlier, Commodore Miguel Rodriguez, AFP spokesperson said that, “torture is not part of AFP policy,” under the present administration and not even under the previous GMA regime, practically washing off the hands of PGMA and her military officials of their bloodied human rights record.
“The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is an occasion to underscore the internationally recognized right of all men and women to live free from torture. It is an opportunity to reaffirm our collective commitment to prohibit torture and all cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.”
-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
Message for the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture 2010
Today, as the world commemorates the United Nation’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Karapatan through its chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez expressed concern on the continuing practice of torture and ill-treatment being committed by the Philippine State security forces against Filipinos and persons they suspect as “enemies of the state, terrorists or rebels”, all in the name of “anti-terrorism or national or internal security program .”
“What makes it worst is the AFP’s barefaced denial that they use torture against those whom they arrest and detain, making it appear that the victims and witnesses are liars,” claims Hilao-Enriquez.
Earlier, Commodore Miguel Rodriguez, AFP spokesperson said that, “torture is not part of AFP policy,” under the present administration and not even under the previous GMA regime, practically washing off the hands of PGMA and her military officials of their bloodied human rights record.
We cannot forget the fate of the two missing UP students – Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño – who are not only missing since June 24, 2006 but whose torture and ill-treatment at the hands of their military captors were recounted in open court by the escaped victim of disappearance and torture himself, Raymond Manalo . Nor of the torture undergone by Melissa Roxas, an American of Filipino descent, when she was abducted by armed men strongly believed to be military personnel in May 2009 in La Paz,Tarlac. UCCP Pastor Berlin Guerrero joined the relatives of UCCP personages killed extrajudicially in filing a class suit against GMA and her generals because of the torture he suffered at the hands of the military personnel who abducted him in May, 2007, just after officiating an ecumenical service in his church. And who can forget the torture ordeal of the community health workers known as the Morong 43, illegally arrested and detained on February 6, 2010? And that of the torture by a policeman of a suspected criminal shown on television?
“Let it be known that the use of torture as a policy did not end with the martial law regime of Marcos. It did not end with GMA. It is still in practice even under the P-Noy administration,” said Hilao-Enriquez. Karapatan claims that there is no essential difference between the present administration and the Arroyo regime, between Oplan Bantay Laya and the current Oplan Bayanihan. “No one can deny that human rights violations continue up to the present,” added Hilao-Enriquez.
Recent incidents under the present administration is the reported torture of a 17-year old boy in Batangas who is being forced to be recruited into the CAFGU and suffered being beaten up because his parents did not consent to seeing him join the CAFGU elements. On May 8, 2011, a Muslim civilian Malik Daggung Abdurahman alleged he was illegally arrested, detained and tortured by the police and was being forced to admit that he was a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who figured in the killing of a policeman in 2007. He is now detained at the Basilan Provincial jail.
Karapatan’s record shows that during the first 9 months of the Aquino administration, there are already 45 people who were victims of extrajudicial killings and 26 victims of torture. “It is up to the P-Noy government to stop the practice of torture; correct the injustices done by going after the perpetrators –GMA and her generals, and those who are liable under his own administration,” said Hilao-Enriquez.
The Philippine government is a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The GPH ratified the said convention in June 1986.