Bill Criminalizing Enforced Disappearances to be Filed, Gov’t Asked to Ratify International Convention

There is no existing law in the Philippines criminalizing enforced disappearances. While Republic Act No. 7438 guarantees the rights of persons arrested, detained or under custodial investigation, it does not punish perpetrators of enforced disappearances. Victims of enforced disappearances are denied the protection of the law.

BY EMILY VITAL
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 29, August 26-September 1, 2007

Kin and supporters lay flowers and candles for the disappeared Aug. 30 is the International Day of the Disappeared. Here in the Philippines, extrajudicial killings and abductions continue with impunity under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime. Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) documented 184 victims of enforced disappearances since Arroyo came to power in 2001.

The observance of the International Day of the Disappeared was started by the Latin American Federation of Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared (Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos, or FEDEFAM) based in Costa Rica, in 1982. The tradition has been adopted by many human rights advocates worldwide.

Amid calls from international organizations, the Philippine government has not yet ratified the United Nations Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearance. The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on Dec. 20, 2006. Fifty-seven countries have signed the convention. For it to be enforced, it should be ratified as well by the legislatures of at least 20 countries.

The Convention defines “enforced disappearance” as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.”

The Convention obliges State parties to enact legislations criminalizing enforced disappearance. It states that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.

The Convention also deems the widespread or systematic practice of enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity.

Bill against enforced disappearances

Bayan Muna (People First), Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP), and Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) representatives in Congress will pass a bill titled “Anti-Enforced Disappearance Act.”

The bill includes a provision which states that no order of battle, official or otherwise may be used by the military, police or any law-enforcement agency, as a legal ground for enforced disappearances.

When Rev. Berlin Guerrero of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) was abducted by suspected elements of the Naval Intelligence Service Force, he was not shown any warrant of arrest. Guerrero was subjected to physical and psychological torture before he was turned over to the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Cavite. It was only days later that he learned that there was a warrant of arrest against him.

The bill also stipulates that the PNP, the AFP or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) must issue a certification in writing on the presence or absence and information on the whereabouts of a possible victim of enforced disappearances.

In Latin America, families of victims of enforced disappearances have the right to access all information called habeas data.

In the case of Jonas Joseph Burgos, a member of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (Peasant Alliance in Bulacan) and son of the late press freedom icon Jose “Joe” Burgos, Jr. who was abducted by soldiers on April 28 this year, the AFP continues to deny the Burgos family a copy of the Provost Marshall report on his whereabouts. Such refusal has stirred the belief of many that the report is self-incriminating on the part of the military.

The bill to be filed by the Bayan Muna, Gabriela Women’s Party, and Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) representatives also includes the awarding of compensation for relatives of victims of enforced disappearance as well as for the rehabilitation of surfaced victims.

In the Upper Chamber, Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada had already filed last June 30 a somewhat similar legislation. Senate Bill No. 7 titled “An Act Penalizing the Commission of Acts of Torture and Involuntary Disappearance of Persons Arrested, Detained or Under Custodial Investigation, and Granting Jurisdiction to the Commission on Human Rights to Conduct Preliminary Investigation for Violation of the Custodial Rights of the Accused, Amending for this Purpose Sections 2, 3 and 4 of RA 7438, and for Other Purposes.”

Estrada cited the abduction of five members of the Union of the Masses for Democracy and Justice (UMDJ) in May 2006. He said that the constitutional rights of the victims were violated and the perpetrators “remain unscathed.” The senator included the criminalization of torture in his bill.

Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo had earlier filed a separate bill seeking to criminalize torture.

The passage of the said bills and the ratification of the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearance are important steps in the continuing struggle against state repression and fascism. The culture of impunity in the commission of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances has led to accusations from militant and human rights groups that these are part of the Arroyo government’s counter-insurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Freedom Watch).

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) has called on the Filipino people to undertake different forms of protest to counter the rising tyranny.

On Aug. 30, Bayan, Desaparacidos, Karapatan, Free Jonas Burgos Movement (FJBM) and other organizations would hold a protest at the Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila. Bulatlat