Committee on Foreign Relations to Tackle Treaties on Torture
and PHL-Japan Cooperation

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, chaired by Senator Loren Legarda, will conduct a hearing on the Optional Protocol on the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) and the Philippine-Japan Technical Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The hearing is set on Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 1:00 PM at the Tañada room.

Invited guests are Sec. Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government, Sec. Jose Rene Almendras of the Department of Energy, Sec. Ramon Paje of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Sec. Mario Montejo of the Department of Science and Technology, Sec. Proceso Alcala of the Department of Agriculture, Dir. Gen. Cayetano Paderanga Jr. of the National Economic Development Authority, Sec. Joel Villanueva of TESDA, and Commission on Human Rights Chair Loretta Rosales.

Also expected to attend are representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Justice, Department of Health, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, National Bureau of Investigation, and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

The TCA provides the general scope and coverage of the technical cooperation and the privileges that will be granted to technical cooperation experts or volunteers that may be dispatched by Japan to the Philippines under the TCA.

Meanwhile, the OPCAT requires State Parties to establish an independent national preventive mechanism that would regularly monitor all places of detention, inspect its facilities, and recommend solutions to prevent torture and other ill-treatment.

Legarda said the aim of the hearing is to get some more inputs and comments from various stakeholders, to discuss provisions of the agreements that may need refinement, and to ensure that the country can comply with these treaties.