Angeles City cop convicted for bus driver's torture

An Angeles City court judge has found a policeman guilty of torturing a bus driver, making it the first conviction under the country's seven-year-old Anti-Torture Law.

PO2 Jerick Dee Jimenez was sentenced on March 29 to a maximum of two years and one month imprisonment by Judge Irineo Pangilinan Jr. of the Angeles City Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 11 for torturing bus driver Jerryme Corre.

Jimenez was also ordered to pay Corre damages amounting to P100,000. Another police officer, Aries Amposta, faces the same charges but remains at large.

Corre was visiting a relative in Angeles City on January 10, 2012 when 10 police officers in civilian clothes arrested him and took him to Camp Tomas Pepito where he was electrocuted, punched and threatened with death.

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 denied.

In his defense, Jimenez said they arrested Corre in an entrapment for possessing illegal drugs.

After bringing him to the police station, Jimenez said he and his companions noticed dried and healed wounds on Corre's right knee. 

When they asked Corre why he has scars on his knee, the driver reportedly replied that he got wounded while fixing a jeepney.

But the court gave weight to Corre's claim of physical assault and the testimony of his live-in partner, Lyne Margarette Cabilangan, who saw the driver with wounds on his knees and wrists and bruises on his buttocks when she visited him a day after the arrest.

"The spontaneous statement of the victim made to his live-in partner that he was hurt by the police is part of the res gestae (Latin for things done) and consequently trustworthy, because it was made under the external circumstances of physical and mental shock, and under a stress of nervous excitement which stilled the reflective faculties of the victim," the decision read. 

"His spontaneous response was undoubtedly his actual perceptions and sensations of the facts brought to bear upon him by the external shock."

The court also noted the results of the examination done by a Commission on Human Rights medico-legal doctor on Corre's scars, "indicating the severity of the physical abuse inflicted upon him, especially the electrocution."

"All told, accused Jimenez by his direct participation and in cooperation with his co-policemen tortured, physically and mentally, the witness to extract confession from him, thereby violating Section 4 (1)(3) Republic Act 9745 in relation to Section 14 (g) thereof," the court said.

Rights group Amnesty International, which is campaigning for Corre's release, welcomed the historic ruling.

“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 AI Southeast Asia regional director Champa Patel.

“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.”

Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor withheld comment until he was finished reading the decision.

A 2014 report published by AI documented brutal and bizarre forms of torture are still being perpetrated by police officers mostly in police stations in the provinces.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/391056/news/nation/most-torture-cases-in-phl-perpetrated-by-police-officers-report#sthash.pr4gbbPA.dpuf

The report titled "Above the Law: Police Torture in the Philippines" 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.

The research found that many victims were too afraid to report their experiences, and death threats were made against some of those who did.

AI said the situation is made worse by "unclear and inconsistent" rules and procedures for reporting torture, which often result in the dismissal of complaints on mere technicality.

The group called 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.

"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 Patel.  — APG, GMA News