The Philippine National Police (PNP) now insists that no minors, persons with disability, or other detainees arrested during the September 21 mobilizations were tortured, abused, or maltreated. According to their account, detainees were placed in air-conditioned rooms, provided with nutritious food, decent clothing, and medical care.

These are all barefaced lies. Families who waited outside precincts for days were turned away and denied information about their loved ones. Volunteer doctors were barred from entering detention facilities, leaving open wounds untreated and infections to worsen. Independent reports document detainees being beaten, extorted for money in exchange for “protection,” and coerced into admissions of guilt.

Persons with disability, among the most vulnerable in custody, were not spared. Edzel Santos was beaten with a truncheon while a sack was placed over his head. To this day, he struggles with pain and trauma, breaking down when recounting what was done to him. He is stable for now, owing only to the intervention of volunteer doctors, but requires continuing treatment and support.

To claim that children were treated with comfort and care while their parents stood outside begging for access is not merely implausible, it is insulting. The irony of calling this “service and protection” will not be lost on anyone who has seen the untreated wounds and the fear in the victims’ trembling voices.

Between the police, with a long history of brutality, and detainees who risk further retaliation by speaking out, who is more credible? This climate of impunity is grimly familiar and reminiscent of the Tokhang years, when blood ran in the streets even as authorities looked the public in the eye and denied what everyone could see.

The Constitution forbids arbitrary detention, torture, and cruel or degrading treatment. Domestic law, from the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act to the Anti-Torture Act, requires that the rights of arrested and detained persons be respected. International treaties to which the Philippines is party bind the State to the same obligations. These safeguards were routinely disregarded.

The police have had every opportunity to prove otherwise: through transparency, open access to lawyers, families, and doctors, and full independent investigation. Instead, they have chosen denial and whitewash.

Accountability, however, does not end with the police on the ground. By law, the Manila Police District falls under the operational supervision and control of the city mayor, in this case, Mayor Isko Moreno. As local chief executive, he has the authority to direct and oversee the day-to-day functions of the police, including their investigations and operations. When those functions result in violations of human rights, responsibility reaches his office as well.

We reiterate our call for the immediate release of all those unlawfully arrested on September 21, for urgent medical treatment of those injured, and for a full, independent inquiry into the acts of torture, cruel treatment, and arbitrary detention committed under police custody. ###

Reference:
Atty. Josalee S. Deinla
NUPL Secretary General
+639174316396