Ratification of UN protocol allowing foreign inspection of RP jails recommended

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate committee on foreign relations is recommending the ratification of a United Nations protocol that will allow foreign inspection of Philippine jails.

Committee chair Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she would sponsor the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) after the congressional break.

“The gist of our sponsorship speech is that we will have to build hundreds of jails all around the country. Statistics show that there is simply unacceptable overcrowding in our jails,” Santiago said.

“It is remarkable that members of the military and law enforcement were unanimous in expressing support for this optional protocol to the convention against torture. This means that they are very educated on our Constitution because this is no less than a constitutional provision,” she added.

The optional protocol requires the Philippines to practice international standards for the detention of prisoners and for the service of sentence after court proceedings.

“We can no longer push people in a very small compound and guard them at the rate of about one guard to every 40 prisoners, because the international standard is one guard for every seven prisoners,” Santiago said.

“We are far below standard so that is why when we concur with the additional protocol, we will file a declaration of deferment, that is to say we will request the UN (United Nations) authority to give us three years so that we can upgrade our prison facilities before the sub-committee on torture will be able to come to our country any time at any place and make their visit,” she added.

Santiago said that subjecting our jails to regular inspection by foreign observers would put pressure on our penologists to improve the quality of our jails.

 “Our penologists already know what the global standards are, and the mere intention to visit will already make them scramble to live up to the global standards,” Santiago said.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who attended the hearing as chairman of the Presidential Human Rights Committee, said the Arroyo administration supports the ratification.

“We welcome the ratification of the OPCAT in our strong belief that the Philippine government does not have anything to hide in its detention centers and in its jails,” he said.

Ermita said the systematic monitoring of jails is being done in the country.

He said the Commission on Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been conducting jail visits and giving assistance to detainees.

He said a multi-sectoral group composed of government agencies and civil society groups was created to start the groundwork for the OPCAT ratification.

Ermita said that like other countries that ratified the protocol, the Philippines needs at least three years to upgrade all its detention facilities to conform to international standards.