PNP: Torture not a tool for investigators

MANILA, Philippines - Police officers should not use torture to extract information from a person, a Philippine National Police (PNP) official told participants of a training program meant to improve the implementation of Republic Act 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act.

Chief Superintendent Nestor Fajura, director of the PNP’s Human Rights Affairs Office, issued the reminder after 249 prosecutors, police investigators and medico-legal officers completed the training program.

“The training made these police investigators realized that torture is not a tool in investigation. There are other legal fronts and there are other tools. Torture is a criminal act,” Fajura said in an interview with The STAR.

The training, conducted under the inter-agency cooperation on enhancing investigation and prosecution of torture cases, was funded by the British embassy in Manila in cooperation with the PNP and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Under RA 9745, the act of torture is a form of punishment inflicted by a person in authority or agent upon another in his or her custody that causes severe pain, exhaustion, disability or dysfunction of one or more parts of the body.

Reports have it that some investigators were using force to extract information from suspected criminals such as systematic beating, head banging, punching, kicking, striking with a truncheon or rifle butt or other similar objects, and jumping on the stomach.

First Secretary Steph Lysaught of the British embassy said the cooperation of the DOJ, the National Bureau of Investigation and the PNP shows the clarity and strength of the police and government’s intentions to root out any bad practices and instill the highest of professional standards in their personnel.

“The joint working and skills the front line police officers and prosecutors have learned and the relationships they built can help drive positive changes across their organizations,” Lysaught said.

He said the first ever training attended by prosecutors and police is a crucial process in providing the PNP and the DOJ common ground and a  framework to work on the application of international standards for effective investigation and the successful prosecution of torture cases in the country.