Pampanga cop gets 2 years for torture

MANILA, Philippines – A police officer in Angeles, Pampanga has been sentenced to two years in prison for torturing a drug suspect.

The conviction of Police Officer 2 Jerick Dee  Jimenez is the first for violation of Republic Act 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act, according to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

The testimony of Jerryme Corre that he was tortured by Jimenez is “positive and categorical,” stated the ruling issued by Angeles City trial court Judge Irineo Pangilinan on Tuesday that the CHR released on Friday.

The court also ordered Jimenez to pay P100,000 in moral damages to Corre. 

Corre said Jimenez beat him up when they arrested him at his house on Jan. 10, 2012. He said Jimenez also subjected him to electric shock and water cure at the police station to force him to admit that he is a thief and that he killed a police officer.

In his defense, Jimenez said there was nothing irregular in Corre’s arrest. He submitted a medico-legal report, which showed that there was “no significant finding” during Corre’s examination. 

The court, however, gave weight to the evidence presented by the prosecution, including the photos showing the bruises and wounds that Corre sustained. Corre’s partner took the photos on the day he was arrested.

A medical examination conducted by the CHR also disputed Jimenez’s argument.

“The victim and witnesses have been subjected to lengthy and rigid cross-examinations by an able and competent counsel. Any deliberate falsehood in their testimonies could have been easily detected and exposed,” Pangilinan stated in his ruling. 

“The credibility of their declarations have not been shaken much less destroyed by the searching questions of the cross-examiner,” he added.