CHIZ TO PUSH FOR APPROVAL OF ANTI-TORTURE BILL
IN BICAM DELIBERATIONS

Opposition Senator Chiz Escudero yesterday said he will push for the approval of a bill penalizing torture when it is taken up by the Senate-House bicameral conference committee next week.

"The passage of this bill is especially important in light of the cases of Rebelyn Pitao and Melissa Roxas. I urge my colleagues in Congress to expedite the enactment of this piece of legislation as another way of honoring and preserving the legacy of former President Corazon Aquino," Escudero said.

Pitao, a daughter of a communist rebel commander, was abducted by unidentified armed men while on her way home from St. Peter's College in Toril District in Davao. She was later found dead in a ditch, her body showing signs of torture, strangulation, rape and stabbing.

Roxas, on the other hand, is a Filipino-American activist who claims she had been abducted and tortured by soldiers in Tarlac last May. The Commission on Human Rights is currently investigating her allegations.

Escudero said that Senate Bill 1978 or the Anti-Torture Bill, penalizes torturers and their superiors. In some cases, it imposes a sentence of reclusion perpetua, or life imprisonment, when torture results in death; when there is commission of sexual abuse, as in the case of Pitao, and when committed against children.

Other penalties range from a minimum of 6 months to a maximum of 12 years depending on the gravity of the offense.

Escudero, who chairs the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said the present Senate version is a consolidation of torture bills which he authored along with Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Juan Ponce Enrile and Rodolfo Biazon.

Other salient provisions of the bill include a provision for the protection of complainants and witnesses and persons involved in the prosecution, and the establishment of a rehabilitation program for victims.

Under the bill, no justification can be offered to justify torture and other inhuman punishments, which will be declared as criminal acts. Persons who participate in acts of torture will be penalized as principals, as well as their superiors in the military, police or law enforcement establishments who ordered the infliction of physical harm to any victim.