9/16/2018 Philippines: Historic ruling on police torture following Amnesty International campaign | Amnesty International

PHILIPPINES TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

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Philippines: Historic ruling on police torture following Amnesty

International campaign
1 April 2016, 13:13 UTC

A historic ruling by a Philippines court this week in which a police officer was convicted of torturing bus driver
Jerryme Corre plants a seed of hope that the tide may be turning against impunity for perpetrators of torture,
Amnesty International said today.

It is first under the country’s 2009 Anti-Torture Act, and follows a three-year campaign by Amnesty International.
The organization took up Jerryme Corre’s case in December 2013 – one year after his arrest – in its global Stop
Torture campaign.

“Jerryme has spent more than four years in prison while under trial on trumped-up charges against him, after
suffering horrific torture at the hands of the police. The conviction of the officer involved sends a clear message
that the torture must stop and that the perpetrators will be brought to book,” said Champa Patel, Director at
Amnesty International’s South East Asia Regional Office.

“Even if the police officer still has the right to appeal, this trial has in itself been a step in the right direction.
Philippine authorities must now ensure prompt and impartial investigations into all reports of torture and other
acts of ill-treatment committed by the police and other state agents.”

The ruling came down on 29 March, but Amnesty International only today obtained court documents confirming
the sentence.

Police officer Jerick Dee Jimenez was sentenced on 29 March to a maximum of two years and one month
imprisonment by a court in Pampanga, north of the capital Manila, having been convicted of torture. He must
also pay Jerryme Corre damages amounting to 100,000 pesos (USD $2,173). Another police officer faces the
same charges but remains at large.

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Jerryme Corre was visiting a relative in Pampanga province in January 2012 when 10 armed plain-clothed
officers arrested him and took him to a police camp where he was electrocuted, punched and threatened with
death. The police accused him of being involved in drug-related crimes, of robbing and killing a foreigner and of
killing a police officer, all of which he strongly denied.

“ The Philippine government must now strengthen independent accountability

mechanisms for police violations, and ensure that all cases of police torture
are effectively investigated and prosecuted. ”
Amnesty International's Champa Patel

While the police were torturing Jerryme Corre they repeatedly called him by the name “Boyet”, even though his
ID proved that was not his name and an official from his community told the police they had arrested the wrong
man. He was forced to sign a “confession”, which he was not allowed to read, and has been in prison on drugs
charges ever since.

Tuesday’s verdict is the first time anyone has been convicted for torture in a Philippines court under the Anti-
Torture Act. Amnesty International has consistently raised concerns about the ineffectiveness of criminal
investigations into cases of torture. Many cases do not make it past the preliminary investigation stage and the
few cases that do reach the courts progress extremely slowly.

Amnesty International is calling on the Philippine government to publicly acknowledge and condemn the
persistence of torture and other ill-treatment in the country, and to review existing complaints mechanisms
against police to make it easier for torture victims to access justice.

“It is vital that victims of police abuse know their rights, and that victims, as well as their families, lawyers and
civil society organizations are able to access justice in all cases of torture and other ill-treatment. The Philippine
government must now strengthen independent accountability mechanisms for police violations, and ensure that
all cases of police torture are effectively investigated and prosecuted,” said Champa Patel.

Background

On 27 March 2015, Amnesty International Philippines handed over a petition with 70,000 signatures collected
during the annual Write for Rights campaign to the Philippine National Police.

Following this, Jerryme Corre and his family were informed that an investigation would be opened by the
police’s Internal Affairs Service (IAS), in line with Amnesty International’s calls. During the first hearing it was
confirmed that the IAS initiated the investigation based on letters received “by a human rights organization”.

In 2014 the Philippines was a focus country in Amnesty International’s Stop Torture campaign, and research by
the organization revealed that methods such as electrocution, mock executions, waterboarding, asphyxiating
with plastic bags, beatings and occasionally rape continue to be employed by police officers who torture mainly
for extortion and to extract confessions. This is despite the fact that the Philippines ratified the two key
international anti-torture treaties in 2009.

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A 2014 report, Above the Law: Police Torture in the Philippines, documented a pervasive culture of impunity for
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment within the police force, and included the
testimonies of 55 torture survivors, all of whom had been tortured after the 2009 prohibition. Twenty-one of
these people were children when they were tortured.

The research found that many victims were too afraid to report their experiences, and death threats were made
against some of those who did. The situation is made worse by the fact that rules and procedures for reporting
torture are unclear and inconsistent, meaning complaints are often dismissed on a technicality.

Jerryme Corre: 'Officer, you were sworn to protect the people, people like me'

Torture in the Philippines: "We now understand our rights"

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PHILIPPINES TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

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