A Philippine Human Rights NGO providing Psychosocial Services and Rehabilitation to Internally Displaced Persons and Survivors of Torture and Organized Violence.

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Ranking Army Officer Arrested for Torture Offense

A ranking military officer was arrested five years after he was implicated in the torture of a baker in Basilan in 2011. The police served the warrant of arrest against Capt.  Sherwin William Guidangen in Maysilo Circle, Boni Avenue in Mandaluyong City on March 8, 2016.  He was charged for violating the Anti-Torture Act as well as for Maltreatment of Prisoner- an offense   punishable under the Revised Penal  Code.

 

The warrant of arrest was issued by the Branch 2 of the Regional Trial Court of Basilan in 2014. The Army officer is facing another charge of Delay of the Delivery of Prisoner at  the Municipal Trial Court in Cities of Basilan.

Capt. Guidangen is the highest ranking military officer known so far to have been arrested due to the charge of torture.  He was detained briefly at the Mandaluyong City Police Station. He was freed the following day after posting bail. 

The United against Torture Coalition (UATC) and Balay Rehabilitation Center have called on the Commission on Human Rights to closely monitor the case to make sure that due process and justice will prevail without further delay.

The UN Committee against Torture, in its report last May, has expressed concern over the persistence of impunity for acts of torture in the Philippines. It observed that only one perpetrator – a police corporal -has been convicted considering the rising number of torture cases compiled by the Commission on Human Rights six years after torture was declared a criminal offense.

According to court records, Capt. Guidangen  is connected with the  Special Operations Task Force of the Philippine Army in Barangay Tabiawan in Isabela City in Basilan. His co-accused, Sgt. George Awing and SSgt. Elmer Magdraog, have been both dismissed from the Philippine Army in 2012. Both remained at large up to now.

The three accused were implicated in the torture of  Abdul Khan Ajid whom the military had linked  to  terroristic activities by the Abu Sayyaf Group. The human rights lawyer who represents Ajid said that his client’s name did not appear in the warrant of arrest produced by the soldiers to back up their claim.  

Reports gathered by human rights groups indicate that Ajid was blindfolded by soldiers who took him away from his home in 2011. For three days, his family had no idea where he was. During those times, he was allegedly badly beaten up and electrocuted by his captors. The reports also said that chilli was rubbed onto his genitals and his head was submerged in water to make him admit that he is a member of a terrorist group. Someone also poured gasoline on his body and set him on fire. 

Ajid survived his torment. His lawyer has petitioned the Department of Justice to dismiss the criminal case against him for lack of probable cause.