Condemning police torture

Titled "Above the Law: Police Torture in the Philippines" and based on more than 55 testimonies of survivors of torture in recent years, the Amnesty International (AI) paper examines the methods employed by Philippine police officers such as electrocution, mock executions, beatings and rape for extortion and to extract confessions.

The document, released on December 4, concluded that despite the Philippines' ratification of two key international anti-torture treaties, a pervasive culture of impunity is allowing torture by police to go unchecked in the country.

Although the government in Manila passed an anti-torture legislation five years ago, it has conspicuously failed to crack down on rogue officers, the report states, pointing out that not a single official has so far been convicted.

Among its recommendations ths rights group has proposed the setting up of a unified, independent and effective police complaints commission that could help eliminate the culture of impunity within the police force.

In a DW interview, Rupert Abbott, AI's Research Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, says that police carry out torture because they know they can get away with it. The Philippines must therefore urgently establish a national preventive mechanism which allows for unannounced spot checks at detention centers by independent observers, he adds.

DW: What proof do you have that the Philippine police is involved in acts of torture?

Rupert Abbott: The report is based on in-depth research, including more than 50 testimonies from torture survivors, many of them corroborated by medical evidence and other testimony, which have not been effectively investigated or prosecuted by the authorities.

How widespread is torture within the Philippine police force?

Anyone is at risk of torture once the police have taken them in custody. There have been hundreds of complaints of torture since the introduction of the Anti-Torture Act five years ago, yet this is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Most survivors of torture are too terrified to talk about their ordeal. Those who complain risk retribution, harassment or intimidation from hired thugs or the police officers themselves.

Others see no point, knowing that a complaint would simply mean trying to jump through a number of bureaucratic hoops as they attempted to follow a set of unclear and inconsistent rules and procedures, only to eventually have
their complaint dismissed on a technicality.

There are many reasons police officers torture suspects - to extort money, extract a confession, or even for their own entertainment. But ultimately, police carry out torture because they know they can get away with it. Although there are hundreds of formal complaints, not a single police officer has ever been convicted of torture in the Philippines.

Are police chiefs and senior officers in the government aware of these acts?

This week Amnesty International delegates in Manila, led by our secretary general, are meeting high level officials in the Philippines to raise this problem.

Senior officers will already be aware of the hundreds of formal complaints made against the police force. Sometimes police are suspended, subjected to disciplinary measures or arrested, but in too many instances nothing is done. It is appalling that after five years, not even one police officer has been convicted under the Anti-Torture Act. Torture is one of the gravest human rights abuses, but those who torture are getting away with it.

The Philippines passed an Anti-torture Act five years ago. Has it not been enforced?

No. The truth is that hundreds of people have suffered excruciating and horrific torture and other ill-treatment in the Philippines while the country violates the international treaties it has signed up to by failing to ensure the effective investigation and prosecution of those who carry out torture. The legislative framework is already in place to prevent torture and ensure that torturers will be punished, but the authorities are failing to implement these laws.

What is the Aquino government planning to do to put a stop to these practices?

Despite the government's ratification of key anti-torture treaties and the approval of national anti-torture legislation, authorities are failing to stop police torture in practice. Prevention is key - the Philippines must urgently establish a National Preventive Mechanism which allows for unannounced spot checks on places of detention by independent observers.

AI is also urging the Philippine government to establish one unified, independent and effective police complaints commission with a national scope that could help wipe out what has become a culture of impunity in the police force.

Rupert Abbott is Amnesty International's Research Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.