Bicameral committee approves anti-torture bill
AMITA LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
08/17/2009 | 08:29 PM
The bicameral conference committee on Monday approved the reconciled version of a measure seeking to end the human rights violations allegedly committed by state agents.
Senator Francis Escudero, chairman of the Senate justice committee, said the anti-torture bill would be ratified next week after he and his counterpart at the House of Representatives report the results of the bicameral meeting on the floor.
The bicameral body is still finalizing the committee report.
Escudero said he is confident that the bill would serve as a warning to government agents and their superiors against committing human rights violations.
“Part of the bill is command responsibility which states that superior officials of the agent who committed torture will also be punished although not as grave as the perpetrator," he said.
If the perpetrator is not a state agent, the maximum penalty under the Revised Penal Code will be imposed against him. If he did it on behalf of a state agent, he would also be punished as if it was he who committed the crime.
The punishment stated in the bill will depend on the gravity or seriousness of the injury, either physical or mental, of the victim.
Escudero said the bill also includes a provision ordering government security agencies to submit every month their list of detention places to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
The bill will also provide additional budget to the CHR to conduct its mandate more effectively. For the first year, the committee allotted some P5 million to the agency to hire more people to enable the agency to conduct its mandate.
The Senate consolidated anti-torture bill - authored by Escudero along with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate Pro Tempore Jose Estrada, Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Rodolfo Biazon - was approved on third reading last June.
The House of Representatives approved its version of the bill last March. - GMANews.TV
Senator Francis Escudero, chairman of the Senate justice committee, said the anti-torture bill would be ratified next week after he and his counterpart at the House of Representatives report the results of the bicameral meeting on the floor.
The bicameral body is still finalizing the committee report.
Escudero said he is confident that the bill would serve as a warning to government agents and their superiors against committing human rights violations.
“Part of the bill is command responsibility which states that superior officials of the agent who committed torture will also be punished although not as grave as the perpetrator," he said.
If the perpetrator is not a state agent, the maximum penalty under the Revised Penal Code will be imposed against him. If he did it on behalf of a state agent, he would also be punished as if it was he who committed the crime.
The punishment stated in the bill will depend on the gravity or seriousness of the injury, either physical or mental, of the victim.
Escudero said the bill also includes a provision ordering government security agencies to submit every month their list of detention places to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
The bill will also provide additional budget to the CHR to conduct its mandate more effectively. For the first year, the committee allotted some P5 million to the agency to hire more people to enable the agency to conduct its mandate.
The Senate consolidated anti-torture bill - authored by Escudero along with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate Pro Tempore Jose Estrada, Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Rodolfo Biazon - was approved on third reading last June.
The House of Representatives approved its version of the bill last March. - GMANews.TV
