PH, European lawyers urge action on torture reports

Bar associations from Europe and the Philippines have expressed alarm on information that torture in the Philippines “is still rife” and “appears to be routine during interrogations by police officers.”

“We are calling on you to address this urgent issue by taking concrete action to ensure those responsible are brought to justice through prompt, impartial, independent and effective investigations into all reports of torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement officials leading to robust prosecutions in court,” read the statement which was sent through international rights group Amnesty International (AI) to the Department of Justice.

Signatories to the statement are leaders of bar associations from Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, France and the Philippines.

The letter notes that only a handful of cases have been filed but “not a single perpetrator is known to have been convicted” and “not one torture survivor in the Philippines has obtained justice” since the 2009 Anti-Torture Act became a law.

The letter cited the case of Darius Evangelista, a theft suspect arrested by Manila police on March 5, 2010, who was tortured by the police and since “never seen alive.”

Despite video evidence “five years to the day since his arrest, nobody has been held to account through the courts. Three of the seven accused police officers remain at large to this day.”

The lawyers’ groups urged Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to direct the National Bureau of Investigation to arrest the accused police officers.

“While a handful of police officers have been suspended or dismissed for torture and other ill-treatment in highly publicized cases, the vast majority of alleged perpetrators remain in active service. Individual police officers are therefore able to act as if they are above the law,” the groups said.

“While administrative sanctions for police officers can and should be strengthened, we believe it is through prompt, impartial and effective investigations and robust prosecutions that full accountability and justice for torture victims can be achieved,” they added.

They also urged the DOJ to effectively and immediately implement Administrative Order No. 35, which establishes the Inter-Agency Committee on Extralegal Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture and other Grave Violations.

Recently, a manhunt operation was launched against five Manila police for killing Ericson Villarosa, an unarmed robbery suspect.

The police officers were caught in a CCTV footage shooting Villarosa while kneeling with both arms raised.