PNP to make surprise audits to stop torture of trainees

MANILA, Philippines—Surprise audits and inspections are needed to prevent law enforcers from putting recruits through hazing during trainings, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said on Friday.

“If you will do the audit now, for sure there will be no hazing. It will abruptly stop,” he said. “Surprise inspections during trainings would still be most effective.”

The routine audit will be done by the Philippine National Police’s Internal Affairs Service, he said.

The remark came after the PNP detained 14 officers in a widening investigation into the maltreatment of recruits allegedly force-fed and rubbed with red-hot chillies at a police camp in Camp Eldridge, in Los Baños, Laguna last year.

Robredo said all officers identified on the torture video during a police training, including commanding officer, would be investigated for possible administrative and criminal liabilities.
He said that although for now the investigations covered only up to the commanding officer, the police chief would also be asked to explain about the incident.

Robredo urged officers subjected to hazing to come forward and file a complaint.
He said the DILG was working to continuously weed out the misfits from the police force.

A Special Investigation Task Group led by Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent Gil Meneses has been formed to investigate the incident.

At the same time, the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service is holding a parallel administrative investigation.

Torture that does not cause death, or permanent or temporary disfigurement or disability is punishable by up to six months in jail according to a 2009 anti-torture law.