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
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.
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.
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.
