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PHILIPPINES: Torture victims whose complaints of injuries were ignored by doctors had their case dismissed

January 31, 2012

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Update: AHRC-UAU-003-2012

31 January 2012

[RE: AHRC-UAC-174-2011: PHILIPPINES: Investigate two separate incidents of torture in Basilan]
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PHILIPPINES: Torture victims whose complaints of injuries were ignored by doctors had their case dismissed

ISSUES: Torture; arbitrary arrest and detention; inhuman and degrading treatment; victims assistance & protection
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SPECIAL REPORT
Torture in the Philippines & the unfulfilled promise of the 1987 Constitution

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learnt that two complaints of torture in Basilan province, Mindanao, which we asked the police to investigate were dismissed because they claimed the victims could not provide medical proof of their torture. The absence of medical proof, however, was because the doctors ignored the victims' complaints and did not adequately record a medical report.

UPDATED INFORMATION:

In our previous appeal (AHRC-UAC-174-2011) we mentioned that torture victims Jedil Esmael Mestiri, presently detained at the provincial jail in Isabela City, Basilan; and Rahman Totoh, presently detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) also of the same city have complained of being tortured by the military and police.

Mestiri claimed soldiers attached to the 32nd Infantry Battalion (IB), Philippine Army (PA) tortured him inside their camp where he was taken for questioning. On the other hand, Rahman claimed the policemen attached to the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Basilan Police Provincial Office (BPPO) who took custody of him tortured him after his arrest and set his moustache on fire. For details of torture, read our previous appeal.

In Mestiri's case, before the soldiers remanded him to prison the soldiers did take him to the General hospital in Isabela City where he was examined by a doctor; however, the doctor did not pay attention to his complaints of chest pains and injuries. The victim also saw the doctor speaking to the soldiers before he examined him. The doctor did not bother informing him what was is it they were discussing.

In Rahman's case, although Dr. Jesus Daniel Naon M.D., the physician who examined him attached to the General Hospital of Basilan, did indicated the injuries that he had; however, other than mentioning the centimeters of his injuries and their location, there were no adequate medical explanations, as required by Anti-torture Act of 2009, that would have explained the cause of those injuries.

In our letter to the Philippine National Police (PNP), we did mention how the doctors had performed their examination on two torture victims. But in his letter to AHRC dated January 6, 2012, Police Director Nicanor Bartolome, chief of the PNP, rejected both Mestiri and Rahman's allegations of torture against the perpetrators.

In Mestiri's case P/Director Bartolome claimed that: "before Mestiri was brought to the Provincial Jail of Isabela, he was subjected to medical check-up at the Basilan General Hospital where no signs of physical abuse or maltreatment was found". He further defended his men invoking their general as: "(the) Basilan PPO maintained that Mestiri was treated fairly at the time of his confinement and that he was not subjected to any kind of torture".

In justifying the injuries that Rahman had, he said: "Totoh attempted to escape that forced the arresting officers to chase and subdue him. After which, Totoh was committed at the Isabela City Jail where he complaint of chest pain". He further trivialized his medical certificate and in defending his men made a conjecture invoking that: "his injuries were mostly found in the chest which could have been inflicted when the arresting officers placed him in prone position to handcuff him when he resisted arrest."

P/Director Bartolome further argued that:" police procedure that requires a suspect to lie on the ground facing down is a standard technique applied in performing arrest. Hence, it was concluded that the arresting officers performed their duties with regularity".

The AHRC completely rejects P/Director Bartolome's explanation as to the result of their investigation regarding the victims' allegations of torture. To require torture victims to produced medical proof where, in fact, the doctors who examined them ignored their complaints and deliberately failed in recording a medical report as required by the Anti-Torture Law, is completely unacceptable.

Here, it is obvious that the doctors had failed in their duties and legal obligations to conduct examination on the victims. Thus, it should be the doctors involved and not the victims who should provide an explanation why there was no medical proof. The doctors' neglect and incompetence in examining the victims and in conducting forensic examination are themselves breached to medical practice and are criminal offenses.


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ua@ahrc.asia)

 

 

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
AHRC-UAU-003-2012
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.