Deferment of international protocol vs torture sought

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is seeking a deferment of the implementation of an international protocol against torture once ratified by the Senate to allow the government time to improve its criminal justice system, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said yesterday.

Ermita made the statement at the start of the “Workshop on the Implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) in the Philippines – Establishing a National Preventive Mechanism” organized by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Manila.

While there is urgency in the ratification to allow the country’s full adhesion to the OPCAT, he said, “there is wisdom in moving with caution as has been the Philippine government’s previous actions in relation to its adherence to international treaties.”

President Arroyo has signed the OPCAT last April and forwarded the treaty to the Senate for ratification.

In signing the OPCAT, Ermita said the Arroyo administration was joining the international community “in denouncing torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment even as we assert the decent and civilized humanity that characterizes the Filipino as in individual and as a nation.”

Ermita though stressed the need for time to allow the country to fully comply with its obligations under OPCAT.

He said 61 countries have signed the OPCAT but only 35 have ratified it.

Ermita said the country’s penal systems are not yet at par with international standards and accession to the OPCAT, which would mean close international monitoring, could yield misleading conclusions.

“At this point, I see the wisdom of the proposal, from both government and civil society groups for the Philippine government to move for a deferment for three to five more years, from the date of ratification, our country’s implementation of its obligations as State Party to the OPCAT,” Ermita said.

“Even as we feel a certain sense of urgency at this time, let us not allow pressure to push us into early, yet flawed compliance,” he said.

With or without OPCAT, Ermita said the government enforced laws and other regulations that keep tabs on all incidents of human rights violations or inhuman and degrading punishment.

Ermita stressed the country’s jails are overcrowded, and the “excess humanity is primarily traced to the proverbial wheels of justice that grind ever so slowly.”

He said inmates are often struck by outbreaks of diseases.

“Philippine jails may be less hellish if logistics are enough to create a jail environment that allows the rehabilitation and the eventual reintegration of an inmate,” Ermita said.

Ermita stressed a deferment in the implementation of the treaty would be accompanied by appropriate legislation that will define the country’s treaty obligations and sufficient fund should be allocated for the purpose of implementing OPCAT.