MANILA, Philippines -- Albay Representative Edcel Lagman lauded the signing into law of the Anti-Torture Act but pressed for the passage of two more bills to compensate victims of the Marcos martial law and classify enforced disappearances as a special offense.
Lagman, the principal author of the Anti-torture Law, pushed for the passage of the two laws before the start of the Congress? Christmas break.
Lagman said that the two laws are related to the anti-torture act because victims of martial law and enforced disappearances were tortured as well.
The bill providing compensation to martial law victims allocates part of the recovered Marcos ill-gotten wealth for the victims of martial law. The bill also pushes the creation of a Commission for the Compensation and Recognition of Martial Law Victims.
The "enforced disappearance" bill adopts the United Nations definition of an enforced or involuntary disappearance, which refers to arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons acting with the authorization or support of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or concealing the whereabouts of the disappeared person.
The measure also considers enforced disappearance as a continuing defense and prescribes a maximum penalty of reclusion perpetua for it.
The bill on enforced disappearance has been approved by the House of Representatives and is pending approval in the Senate. On the other hand, the Senate has passed the compensation bill, which is pending approval in the House, but has been made a priority measure.
The anti-torture act was signed into law last Nov. 10, and came only after 22 years of advocacy by human rights activists. The first bill was filed in 1987.
The law makes all forms of torture a criminal offense and prohibits state authorities from using secret detention centers. It defines torture as any act by which severe suffering is inflicted on someone by person in authority or his agent in order to get information.
The law also also makes any evidence obtained through torture as inadmissible in any proceeding, and imposes a maximum penalty of life imprisonment on violators.
