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THE Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday said that in the
post-Marcos era, the Arroyo administration outdid the other
administrations in torture-related cases.
Dr. Renato Basas, a director of the commission,
told media in forum entitled: “Torture: Is it happening again in
the Philippines,” that the “torture techniques” being employed
during the time of former strongman Ferdinand Marcos has again
surfaced under the present administration.
“It is happening again,” he said during the
forum held at the Richmond Hotel in Pasig City.
Among the torture methods “revived” include
putting plastic bags on the head, hanging and even electrocution of
private parts, which are some of the torture techniques made
infamous during the Marcos regime.
No less than the Commission on Human Rights
confirmed this fact.
According to Basas, several officials of the
Philippine National Police, jail management officers and
surprisingly, some doctors, are leading in the abuses.
He lamented that he has received reports that
some doctors cast a blind eye on human-rights abuses.
Asked by media as to how he would describe the
present administration’s abuses, Basas said it was much like that
of the Marcos era.
He also said that since 2003, the rate of
torture cases steadily increased. In 2003, there were 18 cases;
2004, 26 cases; and in 2006, 37 cases.
It was in 2007, when the country was being
battered in the international community for human rights abuses,
when the number of torture cases went down to 18.
He also said that surprise jail visits being
made by the rights commission also made the torture cases decrease.
Basas said that inmates, those who are about to
enter jail and those who are being investigated are being tortured.
He lamented that there is no present law against
torture but the only case that can be filed is physical injury.
Basas added that the anti-terrorism law is a
double-edged sword since while it may help address terrorism in the
country, it can be abused by authorities. He added that people are
being detained beyond the legal 36-hour period without being charge,
and that the said period opens opportunities for torture.
The administration of former President Fidel
Ramos had the least number of torture cases, followed by the regimes
of former presidents Corazon Aquino and Joseph Estrada.
Asked as to where the victims of human-rights
violations will turn to since police are allegedly perpetrating
torture, Basas said people should immediately go to the rights
commission or their branches in the provinces.
-- Francis Earl A. Cueto
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