Trainings to enhance collection of evidence

CEBU, Philippines - Commission on Human Rights investigators and representatives from various non-government organizations in the Visayas underwent four-day forensic trainings here to improve their knowledge in collecting and documenting physical evidence and protection of the crime scene to solve killings.CHR Commissioner Cecilia Quisumbing told The FREEMAN that the trainings are part of the program of the commission to enhance the knowledge of the investigators and doctors who are looking into cases of human rights violations.

According to Quisumbing, CHR availed of the grant of The Asia Foundation which provides support for the conduct of the trainings. She said that the investigators and doctors from the National Capital Region and those from Regions 1 (Ilocos) to 5 (Bicol) had already undergone the training on forensic aspects.

After Visayas, Quisumbing said, they will also conduct the same training to CHR personnel and investigators based in Mindanao.

She also said that forensic anthropologist Jose Pablo Baraybar, executive director of the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team shared his expertise on forensic investigation. Baraybar led in the conduct of investigation on several mass graves in other countries. It was learned that an estimated 69,000 Peruvians lost their lives during the long and violent struggle between two insurgent groups - the Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Army - and the Peruvian government. Over 15,000 victims disappeared, he said, adding that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is currently on trial in Peru for authorizing two massacres in the early 1990s.

The trainings, Baraybar said, would enable investigators and medical doctors in the commission to understand, gather and use forensic evidence in probing human rights violations.

Quisumbing shared in this goal and said that the training in forensics will enable the commission to produce accurate investigation reports of said violations. Further, trainings also help facilitate better and increased coordination between the CHR and the Justice Department in preparing prosecution-ready human rights cases. — Jose P. Sollano/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)