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By Ma. Margarita Z. Sandejas And Angelo S.
Samonte, Special to The Manila Times
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, chairman of
the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC), announced during the
mandatory universal periodic review (UPR) on April 11 in Geneva,
Switzerland that the Philippines will soon take formal steps to
accede to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against
Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).
“The ball has been set rolling. It was one of
our last decisions at the PHRC before we left for Geneva, to
recommend this to the President,” Ermita was quoted as saying.
RP ratification of and accession to the OPCAT
was also brought up by the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and
Slovenia during the UPR session.
“The memorandum to the President has already
been prepared,” Ermita said, “but because Undesecretary
Quisumbing had to rush to the hospital just before our trip, she was
not able to send it on. We will forward it to the appropriate office
as soon as we arrive. And then, we will soon have a new addition to
our commitments to the HR legal system.”
PHRC Executive Secretary Cecilia ‘Coco’
Quisumbing said, “This Optional Protocol is meant to strengthen
the implementation of the Convention Against Torture to which RP has
been a State Party for 22 years, since 1986 – so, it is also in
our national interest to be a party to this instrument.”
The OPCAT covers physical, emotional,
psychological and mental abusive acts. When committed by agents of
the state for the purposes of coercion, it is deemed “torture”
under the convention. These acts, committed by all other persons,
and for any motive fall under the broader term “cruel, inhuman
treatment or punishment”.
The OPCAT mandates the “(establishment of) a
system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and
national bodies to places where people are deprived of their
liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.”
It requires state parties to establish
independent national prevention mechanisms – not only to
investigate reported incidents but also to put measures in place to
prevent torture.
The mandatory UPR conducted in Geneva involved
16 countries, including the Philippines. Being a member of the
United Nations Human Rights Council, the country took center stage
on account of almost one thousand killings and hundreds of
involuntary disappearances of activists since President Gloria
Arroyo assumed office in January 2001.
Many cases involved human rights defenders
themselves, civil society leaders, journalists and officers of
partylists critical of the Arroyo government.
The Arroyo government has consistently been
criticized for apparent lack of action in many of these cases,
pointing to weaknesses, if not utter lack of, investigation,
prosecution, and legal enforcement, among others.
The ratification of the anti-torture convention
is a long-standing demand of Filipino and international human rights
defenders, who even held an international training and meeting in
January in Antipolo, Rizal to firm up perspectives on this
agreement.
In Geneva, Human Rights Council President Doru
Costea, Romania’s ambassador to the UN, cited RP’s presentation
presided by Ermita as “outstanding”.
Apart from being recognized at the UPR for its
step-by-step action plan in addressing prominent issues such as
activist killings and protection of women and children, the Arroyo
government also acknowledged its limitations.
The country sent 19 key government officials,
including Ermita and representatives of 11 agencies comprising the
Presidential Human Rights Committee. They responded to all questions
thrown their way by Council member countries and observers alike.
Assisting Ermita at the podium were Quisumbing,
Deputy Executive Secretary Edwin Enrile, and Department of Foreign
Affairs Undersecretary Enrique Manalo.
During the UPR for the Philippines, Quisumbing
announced to the UNHRC that “after several meetings over the
months, the PHRC had come to a consensus to send a recommendation to
the President for the Philippines to become State Party to this key
treaty.”
In response to a question from Pakistan about
the PHRC as a coordinating body, Quisumbing cited the Philippine
government’s decision to ratify the OPCAT as an accomplishment of
a high-level inter-agency coordinating body led by Mrs. Arroyo.
After the UPR session, Renato Mabunga,
secretary-general of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights
Advocates, and Carlo Cleofe of Task Force Detainees directly told
Ermita they welcomed this development, for which they have been
lobbying for some time, along with Balay Rehabilitation Centre, the Geneva
Forum for Philippine Concerns and the Association for the Prevention
of Torture, among others.
The mandatory UPR also prompted the discussion
of reports of UN Special Rapporteurs, or technical specialists
zeroing in on vital human rights-related issues, as well as local
and international nongovernment organizations that had long been
observing and intervening in human rights work in the Philippines.
One of them, Philip Alston, visited the
Philippines in February 2007 and came up with damning reports that
linked extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations to
the Arroyo government’s counterinsurgency program, breach of
discipline of the armed forces, and weaknesses in the overall system
of justice delivery in the country.
The Philippines is one of the few countries that
has ratified various human rights agreements, particularly after the
1986 EDSA People Power Revolt, and is expected to comply with them.
The Philippine delegation prompted a round of
applause from the body, even if clapping is not customary at the UN.
Ermita’s presentation highlighted human rights institutions and
education, rights-based good governance, focus on vulnerable
sectors, and cooperation with domestic and international
stakeholders.
Ermita underscored the government’s commitment
to human rights as “paramount, even in the midst of active
insurgencies and other threats to national security.”
“In fact,” he added, “human rights
promotion and protection is a key feature in the peace processes
currently being pursued.”
DSWD Undersecretary Alicia Bala addressed one of
several countries’ primary concerns, the protection of children.
She explained how the government intends to address violence against
children and minors in conflict with the law.
Issues on trafficking of women and
discrimination against women were both addressed by the National
Commission on the Rights of Filipino Women Executive Director
Emmeline Verzosa and Ateneo’s Prof. Aurora Javate de Dios.
Ermita insisted that the government shared the
main concern of Filipino civil society - the murders of activists
and media. He outlined the government’s plans to curb these
killings and hasten investigations, as well as the progress made in
locating suspects by Task Force Usig and Task Force on Political
Killings so far.
Human rights activists have consistently
criticized the government for the lack of notable prosecution and
enforcement of other legal standards in many of these cases, but
other government institutions are initiating measures to resolve
some of them.
Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor, head
of the Task Force on Political Killings and Senior Deputy Court
Administrator Jose Perez said the Philippine judiciary system has
institutionalized the writs of amparo and habeas data to help
resolve some killings.
The Philippines has long been marked as a
country where human rights violations are rampant, and one that
poses tremendous dangers to journalists and their profession, even
while it is not in a state of civil war.
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