RP seeks 5-year exemption from anti-torture protocol

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government wants a three- to five-year deferment on the implementation of the international agreement "Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture," or Opcat, after it is ratified by the Senate, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said on Tuesday. Addressing participants of a workshop on at the Traders' Hotel in Pasay City, Ermita said the country needs at least three years to put appropriate mechanisms in place, including improvement of and increasing jail facilities, ensure better living conditions for the inmates while in detention, and provision of education and training for jail guards and those involved in detention work. It is also better to exercise caution in reviewing and deciding on the ratification of the agreement, which President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed last April. The agreement is pending ratification in the Senate. Ermita said noted that of 60 other countries who have also signed the Opcat, only 35 have so far ratified it. "The United Kingdom for instance, in its national report to the Human Rights Council for the universal periodic review in Geneva, said it delayed its ratification to make way for a review of all its existing domestic monitoring mechanisms," Ermita said. "Isn't it prudent and reasonable or us to likewise take stock of ourselves and check if we have the structures and means to comply with the Opcat?," he added. Ermita stressed that whether the Opcat is ratified or not, the, rules and regulation against acts of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment would continue to be implemented in the country. He said torture and inhumane treatment or punishment is not a policy of the Philippine government. He added that the message that the government underscored when it signed the Opcat in April was that the Philippines "wholeheartedly join our colleagues in the community of nations in denouncing torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment." Aside from a careful study of the Opcat, the government must also prepare for its implementation, which is why they are calling or a deferment after its ratification. He said the government simply wants to avoid having high expectations that it would be able to immediately and effectively comply with the provisions of the Opcat. "I say we would rather err on the side of prudence and thoroughness if only to assert our capability to deliver on the longer term," he said. Ermita said there are three main realities in the country's current penal system that needs to be addressed which are: the Philippine jails are overcrowded and the excess humanity is primary traced to the proverbial wheels of justice that grind very slowly; the Philippine jails are regularly confronted with outbreaks of diseases; and the Philippine jails maybe less hellish if logistics were enough to create a jail environment that allows the rehabilitation and the eventual reintegration of an inmate. He said by deferring the implementation it would give the government enough time to address these problems like putting up of more and bigger jail cells that are at par with international or the United Nations standards. He said they are starting with the transfer of the National Bilibid Prison to a bigger area. Commission on Human Rights chairman Leila de Lima said the deferment of compliance with the Opcat is a prerogative of the executive department but they would study this further as "the real thrust of the Opcat is to prevent torture." De Lima said they, however, welcome moves of the administration to implement reforms in the jail system including addressing the living conditions in the jail cells. She said one way of improving the conditions and treatment of prisoners is by passing the bills decongestion or bill on recognizance especially for those who committed petty crimes; the bill aimed at consolidating the penal system under one agency; and the bill guaranteeing a prisoner's right to suffrage or voting. Philippe Tremblay, Asia Pacific program officer of the Asia Pacific for the Prevention of Torture, said they welcome moves of the Philippine government to improve the conditions of the jail cells adding that it is provided in the Opcat that government is allowed a maximum of three years to suspend its implementation to better prepare for its realization. Tremblay, however, said the Philippine government should not wait long for the implementation because other priorities might overshadow the implementation of the Opcat. Dorrit Ree Akselbo of the Rehabilitation and Research Center for Torture Victims said the Philippine government should remember that they do need to have a perfect prison cell to be able to comply with the Opcat. She said the Opcat is a mechanism intended to ensure that there are no tortures directly or indirectly implemented and determine ways to prevent it. - GMANews.TV