Women, children in RP still at risk of abuse — Amnesty International

Women and children in the Philippines continue to be at risk of physical or sexual abuse despite the passage of laws that criminalize acts of violence against them, Amnesty International (AI) said.

In its annual report for 2005, the London-based human rights organization noted that incidents of domestic violence in the country "remained endemic" while children are exposed to maltreatment when they are jailed together with adults in correction facilities.

"Women and minors continued to be at risk of physical or sexual abuse and poor conditions in detention," AI said. "Children were at times detained with adults in overcrowded facilities, exposing them to abuse by other prisoners."

AI cited the continued campaign of women’s groups in the Philippines for the effective implementation of legislation through adequate financing of government monitoring programs and training.

In January this year, Congress enacted a law criminalizing acts of violence against women and their children within intimate relationships.

"Strict moral standards are applied to women in the Philippines. They are expected to be docile and subservient within the family and intimate relationships. The widely held beliefs in the sanctity of marriage make it very difficult for women to leave abusive relationships," the AI said in an earlier report.

The human rights group also cited studies showing that women in abusive situations endure repeated and escalating violence for an average of 10 years before seeking assistance.

Despite Philippine laws prohibiting the imposition of capital punishment on young offenders, the AI said at least 21 inmates were sentenced to death for offenses committed when they were under the age of 18.

The Commission on Human Rights has expressed alarm over the increasing number of minors on death row. The CHR is set to investigate conditions of correction facilities where young offenders are held in order to safeguard the rights of children sentenced to die by lethal injection.

Meanwhile, the military and police said AI’s charges that they often torture detainees to extract confessions and information are "exaggerated."

AI alleged in its annual report that Philippine policemen and soldiers often abused and mistreated suspects while holding them for unlawfully long periods before charging them.

Spokesmen for both institutions said yesterday such cases were isolated and exaggerated. They insisted their personnel were trained to observe human rights, and that the public had multiple avenues to report alleged abuse.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said the charges represented "isolated cases rather than a statement on the general situation" and that policemen were "relentless in our campaign in upholding human rights."

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Angel Honorado said the military does not "want to refute the sources, because we don’t know where it came from."

But he added that many reports on abuses came from "one-sided sources" and from non-government organizations that were biased against the AFP.

Honorado said the AFP’s record had improved from about 200 complaints filed before the CHR in 2000 to less than 100 complaints before the same body last year.

A report by the non-government organization People’s Recovery, Empowerment and Development Assistance Foundation Inc. said the most common forms of torture are the so-called "ashtray," which involves burning the skin with lit cigarettes; pulling off fingernails; "pompyang" or "el telefono," which means slapping both ears simultaneously with great force; "NAWASA" or the "water cure," in which the victim is held down while water is poured continuously into his or her mouth; "wet submarine," submerging the victim’s head in water or in a toilet bowl; and "dry submarine," covering the victim’s head with plastic to cause suffocation.

Other torture methods include "Meralco" or electrocution; Russian roulette; rape and sexual abuse; solitary confinement; and psychological torture.

The PNP and AFP are battling a nationwide communist insurgency and various Muslim separatist and extremist groups, largely based in Mindanao.