UATC hails first ever conviction of torturer in the Philippines
Human rights groups have welcomed the conviction of a police officer implicated in the torture of a detainee in the verdict made by the Municipal Trial Court in Angeles City, Pampanga on March 29, 2016. In his decision, Judge Ireneo Panganiban Jr., has found guilty Police Officer 2 Jerick Jimenez of subjecting Jerryme Corre to severe pain and suffering to make him admit to a crime in violation of Republic Act 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act.
The court decision is the first of its kind since the Anti-Torture Law was enacted in 2009. The judge had ordered PO2 Jimenez to be jailed for a maximum period of two years and four months. He also directed the convicted police officer to pay the victim P100,000.00 in moral damages.
The other police officer implicated in the case, PO2 Aries Amposta, remains at large and is yet to be arraigned.
The United against Torture Coalition (UATC), a network of civil society groups that lobbied for the successful passage of RA 9745, said that the court decision is a crack in the thick wall of impunity which continues to deny justice to many other torture victims in the Philippines.
According to the victim’s testimony, his captors have systematically kicked and beaten him up. They also blindfolded his eyes, hit him with a rod, and subjected him to electric shock to make him confess that he was involved in a robbery incident that also resulted in the death of a policeman in 2012. He said that the authorities also arrested his aunt and threatened to harm her if she will not implicate him to the crime that the police have thrown against him. The police eventually charged Corre for allegedly violating the Anti-Dangerous Drug Act.
The results of the medical examination conducted by investigators of the Commission on Human Rights and the witness account by Corre’s lived-in partner who saw his bruises shortly after he was hurt by his captors corroborated the victim’s account of torture.
The court, in its decision, has upheld that the elements of torture – infliction of severe pain and suffering by an agent of authority to extract confession, to force an admission, or to exact punishment - have been established beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge did not give credence to the medical certificate presented by the police officers indicating that “there is no significant findings” in relation to the physical condition of Corre. The medical certificate was issued by a government doctor asked by the police to examine the torture victim following his arrest.
The Amnesty International, one of the conveners of the UATC, had documented the Corre torture case and closely followed up the court proceedings.
Joy Lascano, representing the Secretariat of the UATC, said that while the conviction of the police authorities may be considered as a milestone, the state authorities have still to show more determination in prosecuting torture cases that involve high-ranking officials in the armed forces and the Philippine National Police.
She cited the case of the army officers who have been implicated in the separate torture cases filed by Ronnel Cabais in Bicol and Abdul Khan Ajid in Basilan for the torment that they respectively suffered in the hands of their military captors. The warrants of arrest for the army lieutenant and military captain respectively named in those cases have not yet been served five years since the torture complaints have been filed in court.
Lascano also called upon the Commission on Human Rights and other mandated agencies to push for the speedy prosecution of the police officers who were implicated in the infamous “wheel of torture” that subjected around fifty detainees to different forms of cruelty in a secret detention place in Binan, Laguna in 2014.
She added that impunity would also be prevented if medical examiners are fulfilling their obligation to conduct an independent and thorough documentation and treatment of torture victims in accordance with Section 12 0f RA 9745. She also called on the Department of Health to disseminate its Administrative Order 2008-2013 that mandates physicians and healthcare practitioners to demonstrate their competency and commitment in undertaking torture documentation and reporting in line with the anti-torture act.