EDITORIAL - Torture 101

Thanks to technology, evidence of various forms of abuses can now be obtained easily. Photos and video footage taken on smartphones have documented road rage, police brutality, and even kidnappings.

In the latest video now circulating, men in camouflage uniforms are shown being punched and struck repeatedly with sticks by men in fatigues and athletic wear. The Philippine Army is looking into reports that the 10-minute video uploaded last Nov. 1 on YouTube documented an initiation of sorts for recruits in a military unit.

Some quarters may scoff that the soldiers were probably just taking their cue from their superior officers who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy, where violent hazing is widely believed to be part of the entry rites. Kicking off a career with sadistic violence is seen as one of the reasons for the persistence of torture and extrajudicial killings attributed to the military. The Philippine National Police, where almost all the top posts are occupied by PMA graduates, is no better. Previous video clips and photos have shown cops torturing suspects.

The latest video indicates that the military can be equal opportunity tormentors: soldiers themselves are tortured by their peers. Some foreign movies have depicted similar rites for soldiers wanting to join elite units, especially those deployed in war zones. The underlying belief is that testing tolerance levels for physical abuse would prepare the initiates for any suffering that might be inflicted on them by enemies.

The rationale for such methods, never openly sanctioned by any organization, has long been the subject of debates. The threshold of pain for every individual varies and is impossible to predict. Personal courage is difficult to gauge until an opportunity to show it presents itself.

What such violent rites have indicated, although no direct correlation has been established, is that violence tends to beget violence. Those who have suffered torture understand its reality and can conceive its use on others to achieve certain objectives. This mindset is prone to abuse and can lead to permanent injury and death particularly for the innocent. The culture of violence must be expunged from the military and police.