Groups helping political detainees wary of newly built Metro jail cells

A newly constructed jail in Metro Manila has come under scrutiny after an inspection conducted by a group of lawmakers revealed rows of small cells apparently designed for solitary confinement, which they say raises a legal issue under the Anti-Torture Act of 2009.

Members of the Makabayan bloc of the House of Representatives, along with Kapatid, a support group for political prisoners, inspected the Metro Manila District Jail-Main in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, on Wednesday. The visit confirmed the existence of what the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) called “high-risk cells.”

READ: New Camp Bagong Diwa jail has ‘solitary isolation cells’

Finding the new facility to be “disturbing,” ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro said, “The issue is not whether a small cell can accommodate more than one person but the inhumane practice of punishing inmates by isolating them for whatever reasons.” BJMP chief Ruel Rivera assured the group that the cells were not intended for political prisoners.

Icitap

However, Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim expressed concerns over Philippine jails being used for an initiative called the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (Icitap), where the US Department of Justice works with foreign law enforcement agencies in the fight against transnational crime, terrorism and corruption.

Wednesday’s inspection was a result of the dialogue on March 4 between the lawmakers and the BJMP regarding these concerns.

Lim cited reports of “rising Icitap involvement in Philippine jails and its program against ‘violent extremism,’ not unlike the NTF-Elcac’s objective of political persecution.”

NTF-Elcac stands for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, an anti-insurgency body created by the Duterte administration that remains in operation today. Makabayan and other critics, including political opposition leaders, have been calling for its abolition for endangering the lives of persons or groups it had linked to the communist movement with little or no proof, a practice now known as Red-tagging.

Shades of ‘Guantanamo’

Lim said “political prisoners are not terrorists or criminals, that they should be moved into isolation like the US Guantanamo prison camp that has proven to be a failure.”

Kapatid and its Makabayan allies, she said, are counting on Rivera “to be true to his word; they won’t be transferred to isolation cells.”

In a statement, Kapatid said the Anti-Torture Act of 2009 categorizes secret detention facilities or those intended for solitary confinement as places where “mental or psychological torture” can be carried out with impunity, in violation of the law.