Army probes torture video | Home Other Sections Breaking News

Army probes torture video | Home Other Sections Breaking News

Source: (philstar.com) Updated March 27, 2011 05:56 PM Comments (0) View comments

source Arkibongbayan.org

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Army has expanded its revisiting of a three-year-old video, which was posted on the internet and showed soldiers torturing people seeking enlistment to the military in the Bicol region, a military official said today.

Col. Domingo Tutaan, Human Rights Office chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said the Army is now conducting two parallel investigations to ensure that no whitewash occur in the probe of the incident which was recently exposed through the video-sharing site Youtube.com.

Officials earlier announced that the incident was being looked into by the Army headquarters. The video showed the trainees grimacing in pain while being hit with ropes and sticks.

CHR statement on AFP torture caught on video and posted on youtube- Commission on Human Rights

CHR strongly condemns all forms of torture and other cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment. While the video posted online which depicts military trainees being subjected to such treatment in the course of their training was taken three years ago, before the passage of the anti-torture act, its exposure should serve as a wake-up call to the state security establishment to match their rhetoric supporting human rights with concrete action.

A few weeks ago, the CHR received reports of hazing being practiced on police recruits in Camp Eldridge in Laguna. The PNP has promised to investigate, root out the practice and sanction those responsible.

Under the new administration of President Aquino, with its avowed intention of achieving a paradigm shift in internal peace and security towards human rights-based policing, law enforcement and military actions, the CHR is optimistic that the perpetrators of the dastardly acts would be punished.