AFP confirms torture video, says officials now relieved

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has already relieved its officials involved in the supposed torture of trainee soldiers in Bicol, but is now re-investigating the case after a video showing the alleged abuse surfaced on the Internet. At a press briefing on Monday, Col. Domingo Tutaan, the head of the AFP’s Human Rights Office, said the new investigation seeks to determine if additional punishments should be imposed on the soldiers who supervised the training. He also said the training module on escape and evasion, which was what the trainees were undergoing on the video, was already scrapped. “There is an investigation being conducted by the Philippine Army on this matter to determine if there are culpabilities among our soldiers as far as violations of human rights are concerned," said Tutaan. The eight-minute video was uploaded on the popular video-sharing site YouTube last March 17 and has been circulating on networking site Facebook ever since. It shows the trainees screaming in pain as their trainers hit them with ropes and sticks. A trainer is also shown pouring what seemed to be rubbing alcohol on the wounds of the hapless trainees. Another trainer is shown punching the trainees. The training reportedly happened in 2008. Tutaan did not identify the officials relieved for the alleged torture. Militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, which earlier called for a probe into the video, said the footage was handed over to the National Democratic Front-Bicol by dismayed soldiers of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division based in Pili, Camarines Sur, and subsequently uploaded on YouTube by a group which called itself "Isnayp". According to Tutaan, the escape and evasion training module was aimed at teaching trainees to survive dire conditions when captured by the enemy, but it does not allow body contact and the conduct of an actual torture. “We would like to determine what really happened from the victims’ point of view as seen (on) YouTube and determine if there have been violations of (the trainees’) respective rights," he said. Tutaan stressed that the AFP neither allows nor condones such actions, and appropriate actions will be taken to punish those who may have violated military regulations. He also said he has met with Commission on Human Rights chairperson Loretta Rosales to inform her of the military’s ongoing investigation. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier asked Rosales to investigate the incident. Tutaan said that if warranted, a trial of the involved soldiers before a military tribunal will be recommended. For his part, 9th Infantry Division spokesman Maj. Harold Cabunoc said the training module was scrapped as early as late 2009. Cabunoc claimed the video was posted by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who seized the cellular phone, through which the video was taken, of Cpl. Jayson Cerdon, one of the candidate-soldiers. Cabunoc said Cerdon was slain by NPA rebels while on a mission at Sangat village in Gubat town, Sorsogon on August 2010. He said the cell phone was subsequently seized from a rebel who was slain by government forces during an encounter at San Lourdes village in Barcelona, Sorsogon on October 2010. - JA/KBK, GMA News