The Manila Times August 19, 2009
EDITORIAL
Enact the Anti-Torture Law
The Filipinos seem to be decreasingly proud of having a large population of Christians—despite the show of affection by millions for the notably Christian late former President Cory Aquino.
This is because they can see that people in power are remarkably lacking in the Christian virtues. Corruption in high and low seats of power is a pervasive unchristian characteristic in our country. These corrupt powerholders’ insensitivity to the extreme poverty and hunger of a large portion of our people is another sign of their Godlessness.
Cruelty and abusiveness of officers
The cruelty and abusiveness of law-enforcement and military officers and personnel are another unchristian vice in our country. These officers commit abuses and practice torture with impunity.
Torture of actual communists and suspected communists was prevalent during the martial law regime. Many of the torturers then, far from being punished for having practiced their satanic art on victims who have lived to narrate their sufferings, have even become so rich and so politically powerful that they are immune from arrest and accountability. Their continued presence in our society mocks of our claim to be a civilized people. Not only are the martial-law era torturers still around. They have even spawned a new breed of state-employed torturers.
The latest example of a torture victim is the Filipino-American Melissa Roxas. She has tearfully and publicly sworn to the truth of her claim that she was abducted and tortured by military agents. Her detractors (who are suspected by many and identified by some witnesses as human rights abusers involved in the murder of militants) claim that Melissa Roxas is in fact a communist rebel. They have shown a video of someone who looks somewhat like Melissa participating in what appears to be a New People’s Army training drill. Melissa and some witnesses swear the girl in the video is someone else—the person that her torturer-abductors mistook Melissa to be.
Torture is inhuman, abhorrent, immoral—unchristian. The law-enforcement and military officers who practice it must be stopped and punished. But it is difficult to get to them. Their superiors are allowed to shield them from civilian prosecutors. If apprehended, they can only be charged with abduction, illegal detention and infliction of bodily harm now in our criminal statutes.
That situation is about to change. An “Anti-Torture Act” could become a part of the law of the land before August ends.
Bicameral conference committee approval
to read more... http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/aug/19/yehey/opinion/20090819opi1.html
{Blog about torture, enforced disappearance, EJK and human rights}
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
August 17, 2009: Bicameral Session on the Anti-Torture Bills successfully ends
August 17, 2009: Bicameral Session on the Anti-Torture Bills successfully ends. A small picket in front of the senate compound by Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) during the Bicameral Session of Congress for the Anti-Torture Bills took place today. Representatives from TFDP, BALAY, AMNESTY International (AI Philippines), Medical Action Group(MAG), Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance(FIND), Asian Federation Against Disappearnce(AFAD) and Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) were inside the Senate Hall to witness the proceedings which resulted to a final version of the Anti-Torture Bill for transmission to the Office of the President.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Justice for Melissa Roxas, Justice for all victims of torture and other forms of human rights violations!
Statement
August 10, 2009
The United Against Torture Coalition (UATC)-Philippines demands the government to ensure prompt, thorough, impartial and effective investigation into the allegations of torture and ill-treatment by Melissa Roxas. Her testimonies are a prima facie evidence of torture committed by the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Melissa claimed that she was tortured to the brink of death by people she alleges to be military contribute further to the reigning climate of impunity in the Philippines of which widespread and persistent use of torture is a major component.
Five days after the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) called the attention of the Arroyo administration regarding its dismal human rights record and expressed grave concern at the widespread use of torture by law enforcement officials, on May 19, 2009, Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas and two Filipino companions John Edward Jandoc and Juanito Carabeo were abducted by about 15 armed men in civilian clothes and wearing ski masks or bonnets in Kapanikian, La Paz, Tarlac while resting from a survey she conducted in the villages for a future medical mission.
Melissa’s stories give credence to the opacity surrounding places of detention such as military camps or safe houses which create a situation of powerlessness and isolation that in turn encourages the captors to use torture on their victims or detainees. Melissa claimed that she was subjected to various forms of torture such as systematic beatings, threatening her with bodily harm and execution, prolonged interrogation, food deprivation and “dry submarine” wherein a plastic bag was put over head to simulate drowning and caused her to suffocate. Her interrogators kept forcing her to admit that she is an NPA member and to supply information on them.
Based on her submitted affidavit and her testimonies both at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and House Committee on Human Rights, there is no denying that Melissa Roxas is a victim of arbitrary detention and torture. But the question remains: by whom and why? The AFP of course denied that, just as it has denied the hundreds of victims of arbitrary detention, torture and extra-judicial killings over the last few years. The military dismissed Melissa’s allegations as baseless and untrue. As far as they were concerned, it never happened. It claims that either Melissa manufactured the case or somebody else. The military’s response fits the outdated strategy of blaming the victims and focusing on the NPA’s culpability on the abduction and torture of activists, suspected NPA rebels and their sympathizers. But the cover-ups and long tale of lies woven by the military are full of inconsistencies and devoid of any evidentiary value. If Melissa’s story was fabricated, she must be a very good liar, her account being too detailed, too graphic, and too consistent. She did not go on to say the obvious, in the sense that either the military is the liar or not a very good one at that.
The UATC has every reason to believe that the AFP is behind Melissa’s abduction and torture. She is an activist by her own declaration and confirmed by her affiliations. The brazenness and viciousness by which she and her companions were abducted and detailed accounts of Melissa’s ordeal indicate that her abduction and torture were at the acquiescence of State officials.
The tandem of rabid anti-communist party-list representatives namely the notorious human rights violator, retired General Jovito Palparan now Bantay party-list representative, and Pastor “Jun” Alcover, Jr. of Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy or ANAD party-list averred that Melissa is an NPA member as shown by the video and photos they distributed to the media at a press conference. It is hard to buy the Palparan-Alcover "theory" (now adopted by the AFP) since it is riddled with confusing claims and because of their questionable credibility. They say that the video and photos proves Melissa is an NPA member when the authenticity and the source of the video and photos needs to be verified and is still very much open to question. Melissa testified that during her interrogation her captors showed her photos of a woman in an alleged NPA camp. They tortured her to make her to admit that she was that woman but she repeatedly refused. And assuming that what the military says is true the woman in the video and photos is indeed Melissa Roxas, does that constitute substantial proof that she is an NPA member? And if proven she is an NPA member, does that give the military the authority to subject her to torture?
The UATC emphasized that the real issue was not about who Melissa was, but the arbitrary abduction and torture that she went through at the hands of her abductors. Melissa who has returned from the United States to testify against her tormentors is not easy to do since she is aware of the risks to life and limb that are involved in pursuing her case against the AFP. It is a brave thing she is doing, one that should have a profound and lasting impact on ending the repression and breaking the culture of impunity in the country. We all know that the consequences of torture can affect the survivor on many levels from physical, psychological, emotional to behavioral. And trauma is the hardest thing to deal with. The courage she has shown is infused with inspiration. Melissa’s courage and determination to stand up for the truth and justice is worth emulating in these times of lies and injustice.
Justice for Melissa Roxas!
Justice for all victims of torture and other forms of human rights violations!
August 10, 2009
The United Against Torture Coalition (UATC)-Philippines demands the government to ensure prompt, thorough, impartial and effective investigation into the allegations of torture and ill-treatment by Melissa Roxas. Her testimonies are a prima facie evidence of torture committed by the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Melissa claimed that she was tortured to the brink of death by people she alleges to be military contribute further to the reigning climate of impunity in the Philippines of which widespread and persistent use of torture is a major component.
Five days after the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) called the attention of the Arroyo administration regarding its dismal human rights record and expressed grave concern at the widespread use of torture by law enforcement officials, on May 19, 2009, Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas and two Filipino companions John Edward Jandoc and Juanito Carabeo were abducted by about 15 armed men in civilian clothes and wearing ski masks or bonnets in Kapanikian, La Paz, Tarlac while resting from a survey she conducted in the villages for a future medical mission.
Melissa’s stories give credence to the opacity surrounding places of detention such as military camps or safe houses which create a situation of powerlessness and isolation that in turn encourages the captors to use torture on their victims or detainees. Melissa claimed that she was subjected to various forms of torture such as systematic beatings, threatening her with bodily harm and execution, prolonged interrogation, food deprivation and “dry submarine” wherein a plastic bag was put over head to simulate drowning and caused her to suffocate. Her interrogators kept forcing her to admit that she is an NPA member and to supply information on them.
Based on her submitted affidavit and her testimonies both at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and House Committee on Human Rights, there is no denying that Melissa Roxas is a victim of arbitrary detention and torture. But the question remains: by whom and why? The AFP of course denied that, just as it has denied the hundreds of victims of arbitrary detention, torture and extra-judicial killings over the last few years. The military dismissed Melissa’s allegations as baseless and untrue. As far as they were concerned, it never happened. It claims that either Melissa manufactured the case or somebody else. The military’s response fits the outdated strategy of blaming the victims and focusing on the NPA’s culpability on the abduction and torture of activists, suspected NPA rebels and their sympathizers. But the cover-ups and long tale of lies woven by the military are full of inconsistencies and devoid of any evidentiary value. If Melissa’s story was fabricated, she must be a very good liar, her account being too detailed, too graphic, and too consistent. She did not go on to say the obvious, in the sense that either the military is the liar or not a very good one at that.
The UATC has every reason to believe that the AFP is behind Melissa’s abduction and torture. She is an activist by her own declaration and confirmed by her affiliations. The brazenness and viciousness by which she and her companions were abducted and detailed accounts of Melissa’s ordeal indicate that her abduction and torture were at the acquiescence of State officials.
The tandem of rabid anti-communist party-list representatives namely the notorious human rights violator, retired General Jovito Palparan now Bantay party-list representative, and Pastor “Jun” Alcover, Jr. of Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy or ANAD party-list averred that Melissa is an NPA member as shown by the video and photos they distributed to the media at a press conference. It is hard to buy the Palparan-Alcover "theory" (now adopted by the AFP) since it is riddled with confusing claims and because of their questionable credibility. They say that the video and photos proves Melissa is an NPA member when the authenticity and the source of the video and photos needs to be verified and is still very much open to question. Melissa testified that during her interrogation her captors showed her photos of a woman in an alleged NPA camp. They tortured her to make her to admit that she was that woman but she repeatedly refused. And assuming that what the military says is true the woman in the video and photos is indeed Melissa Roxas, does that constitute substantial proof that she is an NPA member? And if proven she is an NPA member, does that give the military the authority to subject her to torture?
The UATC emphasized that the real issue was not about who Melissa was, but the arbitrary abduction and torture that she went through at the hands of her abductors. Melissa who has returned from the United States to testify against her tormentors is not easy to do since she is aware of the risks to life and limb that are involved in pursuing her case against the AFP. It is a brave thing she is doing, one that should have a profound and lasting impact on ending the repression and breaking the culture of impunity in the country. We all know that the consequences of torture can affect the survivor on many levels from physical, psychological, emotional to behavioral. And trauma is the hardest thing to deal with. The courage she has shown is infused with inspiration. Melissa’s courage and determination to stand up for the truth and justice is worth emulating in these times of lies and injustice.
Justice for Melissa Roxas!
Justice for all victims of torture and other forms of human rights violations!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Palparan-Alcover Video: Obscene, Vicious and an Attempt to Erode The Non-Derogable Right Not to be Tortured
The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) condemns the use of a video by party-lists representatives retired General Jovito Palparan, Jr. and Pastor Alcover supposedly showing Melissa Roxas, a victim of abduction and torture, that she is a rebel.
The Palparan-Alcover video is obscene and vicious.
It is obscene as the video is, according to Webster, “abhorrent to morality or virtue; designed to incite … depravity”. The footages were meant, at the minimum, to make a ruse and derail the torture complaint of Ms. Roxas. They were to deflect from the human right violations perpetrated by the abductors and to shift the focus on the issue of being a rebel. Ultimately, the implied statement of the duo is that: “if you are a rebel or an enemy of the State, you can be tortured”.
The Palparan-Alcover video is a bid to muddle the public’s understanding that the right not to be tortured is a non-derogable right, i.e. in no occasion or circumstance whatsoever can torture be inflicted on anyone anywhere. Torture, as inflicting extreme pain to break a person’s spirit, is abhorrent to our inherent human dignity. Embracing torture as part of one’s moral code is despicable. Serving as representatives of what may be an unwritten state policy that torture can be used at will and/or with presumed regularity is depravity.
It must be recalled that on December 26, 2007, under the new rule of the writ of amparo, the second division of the Court of Appeals gave a decision penned by Justice Lucas Bersamin which unequivocably stated that “General [Jovito] Palparan, [Jr.]’s participation in the abduction was also established”, “saying that he at least knew about the arrest and detention by his men of the Manalo brothers.” This knowledge, according to the Court, showed Palparan’s “indubitable command policy that unavoidably encouraged and not merely tolerated the abduction of civilians without due process of law and without probable cause.”
It is not lost to human rights defenders and to civil society to note that the person who implemented this “indubitable command policy” had been once singularly lauded by Ms. Gloria M. Arroyo, his Commander-in-Chief and Chief Executive in a State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The video is vicious. Aware of the present capability of technology to manipulate images, the courts are very wary of such videos being admissible as evidence. In this case, it is an instance of psywar production by the Palparan-Alcover tandem. It is another version of the military’s CD and powerpoint presentations of “Knowing the Enemy” which lists cause-oriented organizations and individuals as “enemies of the State”. The existence of these lists, known also as “Order of Battle”, confirmed even at different occasions by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston and the EU Needs Assessment Team, included the names of those who have been abducted and extra-judicially killed. These lists are virtual lists for arrest, abduction, torture and death.
The House of Representatives Committee on Justice and Human Rights, concerned government bodies and the Commission on Human Rights should probe Palparan and Alcover with assiduousness and thoroughness as to the sources and the people responsible for the video production, impose appropriate sanctions for possible production of malicious and life-threatening information, and decide to ban reproduction and dissemination of the said video. Such productions are aimed to erode the non-derogable right of everyone not to be tortured.
Now is a proper time for Congress to pass the Anti-Torture Bill into law and for the Chief Executive to sign so as to show both to the nation and to the world that the Philippines will still pursue the path to moral progress.
Let us assert and fight for our common human dignity! At all times, no to torture!
Max M. de Mesa
Chairperson
July 29, 2009
The Palparan-Alcover video is obscene and vicious.
It is obscene as the video is, according to Webster, “abhorrent to morality or virtue; designed to incite … depravity”. The footages were meant, at the minimum, to make a ruse and derail the torture complaint of Ms. Roxas. They were to deflect from the human right violations perpetrated by the abductors and to shift the focus on the issue of being a rebel. Ultimately, the implied statement of the duo is that: “if you are a rebel or an enemy of the State, you can be tortured”.
The Palparan-Alcover video is a bid to muddle the public’s understanding that the right not to be tortured is a non-derogable right, i.e. in no occasion or circumstance whatsoever can torture be inflicted on anyone anywhere. Torture, as inflicting extreme pain to break a person’s spirit, is abhorrent to our inherent human dignity. Embracing torture as part of one’s moral code is despicable. Serving as representatives of what may be an unwritten state policy that torture can be used at will and/or with presumed regularity is depravity.
It must be recalled that on December 26, 2007, under the new rule of the writ of amparo, the second division of the Court of Appeals gave a decision penned by Justice Lucas Bersamin which unequivocably stated that “General [Jovito] Palparan, [Jr.]’s participation in the abduction was also established”, “saying that he at least knew about the arrest and detention by his men of the Manalo brothers.” This knowledge, according to the Court, showed Palparan’s “indubitable command policy that unavoidably encouraged and not merely tolerated the abduction of civilians without due process of law and without probable cause.”
It is not lost to human rights defenders and to civil society to note that the person who implemented this “indubitable command policy” had been once singularly lauded by Ms. Gloria M. Arroyo, his Commander-in-Chief and Chief Executive in a State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The video is vicious. Aware of the present capability of technology to manipulate images, the courts are very wary of such videos being admissible as evidence. In this case, it is an instance of psywar production by the Palparan-Alcover tandem. It is another version of the military’s CD and powerpoint presentations of “Knowing the Enemy” which lists cause-oriented organizations and individuals as “enemies of the State”. The existence of these lists, known also as “Order of Battle”, confirmed even at different occasions by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston and the EU Needs Assessment Team, included the names of those who have been abducted and extra-judicially killed. These lists are virtual lists for arrest, abduction, torture and death.
The House of Representatives Committee on Justice and Human Rights, concerned government bodies and the Commission on Human Rights should probe Palparan and Alcover with assiduousness and thoroughness as to the sources and the people responsible for the video production, impose appropriate sanctions for possible production of malicious and life-threatening information, and decide to ban reproduction and dissemination of the said video. Such productions are aimed to erode the non-derogable right of everyone not to be tortured.
Now is a proper time for Congress to pass the Anti-Torture Bill into law and for the Chief Executive to sign so as to show both to the nation and to the world that the Philippines will still pursue the path to moral progress.
Let us assert and fight for our common human dignity! At all times, no to torture!
Max M. de Mesa
Chairperson
July 29, 2009
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