Torturers evade justice under PNoy’s watch – AI

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino government has failed in ensuring that police officers charged with torture face justice, Amnesty International said on Tuesday, June 26.

In a statement commemorating the International Day against Torture, AI noted that the first case filed under the Philippines’ Anti-Torture Act has not progressed.

This involves ex-police officer Joselito Binayug and 6 others who were charged in court for torturing crime suspect Darius Evangelista at a Manila police station in August 2010.

A footage of Evangelista’s torture was broadcast by a TV station then. “The footage showed Evangelista writhing in pain as the officer…identified as Senior Inspector Joselito Binayug yanked a cord attached to the detainee’s penis and whipped him with a rope,” AI said.

The incident occurred a year after the 2009 passage of the Anti-Torture Act, which prescribes criminal penalties for torture and other ill-treatment. Under the doctrine of command responsibility, the law also establishes liability for superiors who fail to prevent or punish torture committed by their subordinates.

The case against Binayug and his 6 colleagues was the first to be filed under this law. In November 2011, a court issued a warrant of arrest against the 7.

Two of them have surrendered, according to AI, but Binayug and 4 others remain missing.

AI called on the President “to order the police to cooperate with the Regional Trial Court and the Department of Justice by arresting Binayug and the other four officers charged in the torture of Darius Evangelista.”

“President Aquino should also make it clear that any police officer who obstructs Binayug’s arrest will be held accountable for ‘harboring, concealing or assisting in the escape of the principal’ under the Anti-Torture Act,” AI added. – Rappler.com
 

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