US on Human Rights in Philippines: Unsolved Cases, Unpunished Perpetrators

On April 28, four men and a woman, alleged to be AFP personnel in Bulacan, abducted activist Jonas Burgos and two others in Quezon City, metro Manila. On July 24, the Supreme Court ordered the AFP to present Burgos before the court of appeals; however, the AFP denied that Burgos was in its custody. At year’s end Burgos and the two others remained missing, and the court of appeals had not concluded its hearings. The CHR also conducted a public inquiry into Burgos’ whereabouts, which concluded on September 11, with no new findings.

On May 27, the court of appeals dismissed for lack of evidence a petition filed against the AFP to produce abducted University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno and local citizen Manuel Merino who had been missing since June 2006. The court referred the case to the PNP, the CHR, and the National Bureau of Investigation for further investigation. At year’s end the three were still missing. Writ of amparo petitions (see section 1.e.) were filed against the military in the cases of Cadapan, Empeno, Merino, and Jonas Burgos. The petitions were pending in court at year’s end.

Some victims’ families complained that the courts and police failed to address adequately their complaints concerning disappearances in which security forces were suspected. Evidence of a kidnapping or killing is required in order to file charges. FIND and Amnesty International’s Manila office continued to support the efforts of victims’ families to press charges. In most cases, evidence and documentation were unavailable, and convictions were rare. Out of 16 court cases related to disappearances of concern to FIND, none had been resolved as of year’s end. Judicial inaction on the vast majority of disappearances contributed to a climate of impunity and undermined public confidence in the justice system.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The constitution prohibits torture, and evidence obtained through its use is inadmissible in court; however, members of the security forces and police were alleged to have routinely abused and sometimes tortured suspects and detainees. The CHR provided the police with mandatory human rights training. The CHR noted that senior PNP officials appeared receptive to respecting the human rights of detainees, but rank-and-file awareness of the rights of detainees remained inadequate.

The TFDP asserted that torture remained an ingrained part of the arrest and detention process. Common forms of abuse during arrest and interrogation reportedly included striking detainees and threatening them with guns. The TFDP reported that arresting officers often carried out such beatings in the early stages of detention.

Another human rights NGO, the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, also reported that police used excessive force in apprehending suspects.

Within the AFP, the CHR continued to observe greater sensitivity to the need to prevent human rights violations. The CHR is required to determine whether an officer being considered for promotion has a history of human rights violations; however, a negative CHR finding does not preclude promotion. The CHR also vets PNP officers at the senior superintendent level. Nevertheless abuses still occurred. Human rights activists complained of abuses by security forces against suspected ASG and NPA members in captivity. According to the Moro Human Rights Center, some members of the AFP continued to beat ASG suspects.

The TFDP documented 16 cases of torture involving 28 victims from January to December. The CHR investigated 18 cases of alleged torture during the year. The majority of suspects in both the TFDP and CHR cases were members of the PNP.

On January 3, the police arrested Ricardo Ayeras in Quezon Province for his alleged involvement in a 2005 bombing. Ayeras alleged that police interrogators in the PNP headquarters beat and used electric shock on him to force him to admit his involvement. On February 16, a local trial court judge ordered his release for lack of evidence.

There were reports that prison guards physically abused inmates. The CHR and TFDP reported that abuse by prison guards and other inmates was common, but prisoners, fearing retaliation, refused to lodge formal complaints. Women in police custody were particularly vulnerable to sexual and physical assault by police and prison officials.

Prison and Detention Center Conditions

Prison conditions were rudimentary and sometimes harsh. Provincial jails and prisons were overcrowded, lacked basic infrastructure, and provided prisoners with an inadequate diet. Jails managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) operated at an average of 260 percent of designed capacity. Prison administrators allotted a daily subsistence allowance of approximately $0.86 (40 pesos) per prisoner. Lack of potable water and poor ventilation continued to cause health problems. The slow judicial process exacerbated overcrowding.

There were reports of widespread corruption among prison guards and, to some extent, at higher levels of authority within the prison system. Some detainees at immigration detention centers reportedly gained release by making cash payments to guards.

The February 2006 CHR report on the 2005 escape attempt at Camp Bagong Diwa, during which three guards and 22 inmates were killed, concluded that the authorities used excessive force and that inmates were mistreated or summarily executed. It recommended that the DOJ create a committee to investigate; however, by year’s end, the DOJ had not yet investigated the case.

According to BJMP regulations, male and female inmates are to be held in separate facilities and, in national prisons, overseen by guards of the same sex. Anecdotal reports suggested that these regulations were not uniformly enforced. In provincial and municipal prisons, male guards sometimes supervised female prisoners directly or indirectly. Although prison authorities attempted to segregate children, in some instances children were held in facilities not fully segregated from adult male inmates. Only 292 out of 1,078 jails managed by the BJMP and PNP had separate cells for minors, while 410 jails had separate cells for adult females.