LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—-Militant human rights groups expressed disgust not only over the grisly footages of hazing inside police training camps but also over the statement of top police officials that the incident was an isolated case.
“It happens even in other police and Army training camps and I doubt if their officers have not experienced the same (when still undergoing training). It’s systemic,” said Leo Fuentes, spokesperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Tagalog (Bayan-ST).
Bayan and another militant group Karapatan, a human rights watchdog, condemned the video clips showing police recruits being forced to eat mouthfuls of chillies and their genitals smeared with chili-laced water, causing them to cry out in pain.
The Commission on Human Rights got hold of the footages, prompting an investigation into the incident that occurred outside a police camp here last year.
Top officials of the Philippine National Police also called for an internal probe that so far resulted in the relief of two police officers and 15 non-commissioned police officers in the Regional Public Safety Battalion in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon).
Fuentes said it was not the first time that shocking videos of hazing or torture inside police and Army camps had surfaced.
Just in March, a video showing military draftees being tortured as part of their training was uploaded on YouTube.
The soldiers in the video were reportedly from the 9th Infantry Division in Camarines Sur.
Torture inside camps “is common knowledge and investigations are not enough. When the issue dies down, we all know it will continue,” Fuentes said.
He said the militants sympathized with the police trainees in the video as it was a violation of their human rights.
He believed it becomes a mindset of the police or Army officer carried even after leaving the training camp.
“It’s no wonder why the police and military are used to violating human rights because they were used to it and were trained to do so,” he added.