Sign anti-torture bill now, Arroyo urged
10/30/2009 | 09:32 PM
Break the culture of impunity.
This was the call made Friday by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and human rights advocates to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as they demanded for the immediate signing into law of the anti-torture bill.
Mrs. Arroyo will be able to show her political will in stopping torture if she will sign the measure, according to CHR director Karen Gomez Dumpit.
Last April, the administration, through Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, promised before the United Nations Convention Against Torture that it would enact the proposed Freedom from Torture Law.
“She (President Arroyo) can let the bill to lapse into law 30 days after it was submitted to her but her signing it will indicate that she is indeed against acts of torture particularly if it is conducted by government agents," said Dumpit at a press conference in Quezon City.
The Senate and House of Representatives last August approved the reconciled version of the bill seeking to criminalize acts of torture committed by state agents.
The copy of the bill was transmitted to the Office of the President on October 13. (See: Philippine bicameral committee approves anti-torture bill)
“We are really in great anticipation of the President’s signing the anti-torture bill into law. It will only be a beginning because the law is the signal of the break in impunity," Dumpit said.
Kaloy Anasarias, spokesperson of the United Against Torture Coalition, said the signing of the measure would erase the belief that the Arroyo administration is behind the spate of extrajudicial killings in the country.
“The absence of the anti-torture law would mean the continuity of impunity as opposed to the breaking of impunity," said Anasarias.
Dumpit said impunity continues because those who commit torture or any cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment were not being charged and punished properly.
The CHR does not have a record of the exact number of torture cases because these are often being lumped with other crimes such as murder or serious physical injuries.
“That is the reason why we need to have a proper labeling of an act especially of acts that are cruel, inhuman crimes against humanity which is torture," Dumpit said.
In a letter to President Arroyo sent on September 28, CHR chairperson Leila de Lima said the passage of the anti-torture bill would show “with greatest clarity, the declaration not only of a no torture policy but matches this with the accountability in certainty of proportionate punishment when torture indeed takes place."
“Your Excellency’s signature will break the persisting impunity for torturers in the country. Its passage, without question, will be prominently placed in the annals of human rights legislation," De Lima added. AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
This was the call made Friday by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and human rights advocates to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as they demanded for the immediate signing into law of the anti-torture bill.
Mrs. Arroyo will be able to show her political will in stopping torture if she will sign the measure, according to CHR director Karen Gomez Dumpit.
Last April, the administration, through Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, promised before the United Nations Convention Against Torture that it would enact the proposed Freedom from Torture Law.
“She (President Arroyo) can let the bill to lapse into law 30 days after it was submitted to her but her signing it will indicate that she is indeed against acts of torture particularly if it is conducted by government agents," said Dumpit at a press conference in Quezon City.
The Senate and House of Representatives last August approved the reconciled version of the bill seeking to criminalize acts of torture committed by state agents.
The copy of the bill was transmitted to the Office of the President on October 13. (See: Philippine bicameral committee approves anti-torture bill)
“We are really in great anticipation of the President’s signing the anti-torture bill into law. It will only be a beginning because the law is the signal of the break in impunity," Dumpit said.
Kaloy Anasarias, spokesperson of the United Against Torture Coalition, said the signing of the measure would erase the belief that the Arroyo administration is behind the spate of extrajudicial killings in the country.
“The absence of the anti-torture law would mean the continuity of impunity as opposed to the breaking of impunity," said Anasarias.
Dumpit said impunity continues because those who commit torture or any cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment were not being charged and punished properly.
The CHR does not have a record of the exact number of torture cases because these are often being lumped with other crimes such as murder or serious physical injuries.
“That is the reason why we need to have a proper labeling of an act especially of acts that are cruel, inhuman crimes against humanity which is torture," Dumpit said.
In a letter to President Arroyo sent on September 28, CHR chairperson Leila de Lima said the passage of the anti-torture bill would show “with greatest clarity, the declaration not only of a no torture policy but matches this with the accountability in certainty of proportionate punishment when torture indeed takes place."
“Your Excellency’s signature will break the persisting impunity for torturers in the country. Its passage, without question, will be prominently placed in the annals of human rights legislation," De Lima added. AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
