CBCP: Torture unacceptable

CBCP President Archbishop Socrates Villegas. INQUIRER FILE

Torture is unacceptable even in interrogating terror suspects, said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“Nothing justifies torture, more so when it is part of a scheme of lawlessness and sheer brigandage,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas, CBCP president, in a statement posted on the CBCP website.

While the bishops laud efforts to spare the public from the threat of terrorism, they insisted that the use of torture was unjustifiable even to extract information that might thwart a terror attack.

“We cannot countenance the torture of suspects even when motivated by the noble end of ferreting out the truth, and sparing innocent victims,” he said. “The savagery of all acts of torture contradicts all noble deeds.”

The bishops were reacting to documented reports from human rights watchdog Amnesty International about the prevalence of torture in the Philippines.

They also lamented the “culture of impunity” by which authorities “take it upon themselves to torture their victims.”

The CBCP, citing reports of torture inflicted by rebels, insurgents, separatists, and bandit groups, said that acts of torture were not only committed by law enforcers.

“The fact that they have taken up arms against the government constitutes no justification for the torture inflicted on others,” Villegas said.

Villegas stressed lay people must have the “Christian courage” to speak out against torture and even to testify in court against its perpetrators.