PNP suffering from deep-seated institutional deficiencies - report

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has deep-rooted institutional deficiencies and has suffered from a widely held and apparently accurate public perception that corruption remains a problem, according to the US Department of State’s latest human rights report.

Although efforts were underway to reform and professionalize the institution through improved training, expanded community outreach, and pay raises, the 2009 Country Report on Human Rights Practices released Friday said the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service remained largely ineffective.

“Members of the PNP were regularly accused of torture, soliciting bribes, and other illegal acts,” the report said.

The Department of National Defense (DND) directs the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which shares responsibility for counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations with the 125,000-member PNP.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) directs the PNP, which is responsible for the enforcement of law and order and urban counterterrorism.

Last year, there were 177 administrative cases filed against members of the police force, including administrative officials and police officers, for various human rights violations. Of the 177 cases filed, 137 were resolved and 40 were undergoing summary proceedings by the end of 2009.

In response to these cases, the PNP dismissed 240 of its personnel. The deputy ombudsman for the military received 71 cases involving alleged human rights abuses by the military and law enforcement officers during the year, majority of which were filed against low-ranking police and military officials.

The Commission on Appointments determines whether senior military officers selected for promotion have a history of human rights violations and solicits input from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and other agencies during the course of its background investigations.

“In some instances, a promotion can be withheld indefinitely when the commission uncovers a record of human rights abuses. Negative findings do not, however, preclude promotion, and there were no reports of promotions withheld on human rights grounds during the year,” the report added.

As of August 2009, the AFP Human Rights Office monitored no new cases of killings, disappearances, or torture during the year. Government-armed civilian militias supplemented the AFP and the PNP. Some politicians and clan leaders maintained their own private armies, particularly in Mindanao.

“The AFP did not aggressively pursue internal investigations into alleged serious human rights abuses by some of its members,” the report said.

The report said security forces and antigovernment insurgents committed a number of arbitrary and unlawful killings.

The CHR investigated 57 new complaints of politically motivated killings that occurred from January through November.

The CHR suspected personnel from the PNP and the AFP in some killings of leftist activists operating in rural areas.

The nongovernment organization Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) investigated allegations of summary executions by government security forces. The TFDP was unable to investigate all of these allegations, but it counted eight cases involving 12 victims of summary executions by government forces during the year.

By year’s end the PNP’s Task Force Usig, responsible for monitoring unexplained killings, recorded 156 cases of killings since 2001, nine of which occurred during the year. Of these, 95 cases were filed in court and prosecutor’s offices, 60 cases were under investigation, and one case was closed. There was one conviction of a state actor during the year.

On May 15, President Arroyo abolished the Interagency Legal Action Group, which some human rights groups alleged was a tool for targeting activists. The PNP expanded human rights training and community outreach efforts during the year and maintained a network of 1,841 human rights desk officers at the national, regional, provincial, and municipal levels.

Human rights groups and the CHR observed little progress in implementing and enforcing some reforms aimed at decreasing the incidence of killings.

Funding for the CHR and the government witness protection programs were considered inadequate.

According to local human rights groups, government forces were responsible for disappearances. From January through November, the CHR investigated nine new cases of enforced disappearances, abductions, and kidnappings involving 15 victims, some of whom had been detained without a warrant.

Terrorist and criminal groups also committed a number of kidnappings for ransom in the southern Philippines.

Prison conditions were rudimentary and sometimes harsh. Provincial jails and prisons were overcrowded, lacked basic infrastructure, and provided prisoners with an inadequate diet, the report further said.

The State Department said the report that covers 194 countries is the single-most exhaustive and comprehensive compilation of information about human rights in the world.

The US Government compiled the reports for the past 34 years pursuant to a requirement placed on the US executive by law in part to help the US Congress inform its work in assessing requests for US foreign military and economic assistance, as well as to set trade policies and US participation in the multilateral development banks and other financial institutions.