EDITORIAL - The right against torture

In line with efforts to promote respect for human rights, the Philippine National Police has started requiring its members to recite to arrested suspects their rights against torture. The anti-torture warning will have to be read out to a suspect together with his Miranda rights. The PNP is distributing to its members an initial 15,000 cards prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross, containing both the Miranda rights and the anti-torture warning.

The move is laudable, especially in the light of numerous cases wherein police officers were implicated in the torture of suspects. But the devil is always in the details. The PNP must see to it that there will be an effective system of monitoring compliance with the requirement, and a mechanism by which complaints of torture can be filed and verified. Some cases of torture have been recorded on video through mobile phones or closed-circuit TV cameras. CCTV units are becoming more ubiquitous in Metro Manila and other urban areas. But most arrests are conducted out of sight, and if a crime suspect complains of torture, it will usually be his word against an entire police team.

The PNP may also have to clarify to its members the acts that constitute torture. Reasonable force can be used to subdue or capture violent criminals, and law enforcers have long resorted to various methods of extracting information from suspects to solve crimes. Which methods are permissible and which are violations of human rights? Such debates are being carried out even in other countries amid the battle against terrorism and organized crime. Apart from protecting suspects, such clarifications will protect cops from a possible indictment for rights abuses.

These details should not deter the PNP from pushing through with its effort to promote respect for human rights among its members. Torture and other extrajudicial methods of law enforcement tend to be counterproductive, resulting in suffering for the innocent and freedom for the real culprit to continue committing crimes.