Impunity of torture inflicted on a pregnant woman chaged with murder

The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has received new information and requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in the Philippines.

New information:

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), a member of the OMCT network, about the ongoing detention of a pregnant woman, Ms. Marilou Aligato, charged with the murder of a member of the military, Sergeant Analasan.

According to the information received, on 15 March 2007, the Commission on Human Rights – Region 8, issued a resolution concluding that Ms. Aligato’s arrest was lawful and that she had been subjected to “slight injuries” that could amount to torture according to the Convention against Torture but does not according to domestic law, for it does not contain any provision criminalising torture. The offence is punishable with two month’s imprisonment (article 266 of the Revised Penal Code on “light physical injuries”), which is now prescribed.

However, the qualification of the ill-treatment of Ms. Aligato as “slight injuries” is in full contradiction with the medical expertise she underwent and the victim’s testimony, which the CHR resolution considers reliable as follows: “Credence therein was found by the undersigned, for it is hard to believe that the same were merely fabricated or concocted”. Based on the severity and motivation of the ill-treatment described by the victim, the CHR further states that “the acts complained of appear qualified for TORTURE.”

Moreover, Ms. Aligato has been arraigned with murder before the Regional Trial Court Branch 25 per recommendation of Fiscal Alan Villar. Her attorney, Mr. Norjue Juego, has filed a motion for reinvestigation of the criminal case given the flimsiness of the evidence and testimonies.

According to the information received, Ms. Aligato is still held in the Ormoc City Sub-Provincial Jail in a small cell at the jail entrance that is borrowed by other male detainees when they receive visitors. According to a recent medical examination, her baby’s condition requires a caesarean operation. In this regard, OMCT recalls that in compliance with article 23.1 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, “Arrangements shall be made wherever practicable for children to be born in a hospital outside the institution.”

OMCT further recalls that according to the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women States shall “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons” (article 4.c).

Brief reminder of the situation:

According to the information received, on 7 November 2006, Ms. Marilou Aligato got off a bus at Kananga, Leyte, when suddenly troops of the 19th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army covered her eyes with a piece of cloth and took her to their headquarters at Barangay Aguitinh, Kananga.

There she was reportedly ill-treated while she was forced to reveal the whereabouts of her alleged companions of the New People’s Army (NPA). According to the information, one of the military men put a plastic bag over her head and tied it around her neck, and two other men identified as Hosena and Tapia hit her legs with weapons’ butts. She was also boxed in the chest by a man called Hamorawon and hit in the head and the back with guns by other soldiers.

Ms. Marilou Aligato is suspected of involvement in the killing of a soldier at Kananga Marked earlier that afternoon. According to an eyewitness in this case, only two men were involved in the murder of the army member.

After being kept in military custody for three days, Ms. Marilou Aligato was sent into police custody at the Kananga Municipal Jail. On 26 January 2007, she was transferred to the Sub-Provincial Jail in Ormoc City, reportedly held in a small and crowded cell. According to the information received, Ms. Aligato nearly lost her child as a result of torture and still at that time felt pain on her chest.

Requested action:

Please write to the authorities in the Philippines urging them to:

1. ensure Ms. Marilou Aligato’s physical and psychological integrity and provide her with adequate medical attention;
2. ensure her immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges, and if such charges exist, ensure that she is given a prompt and fair trial, in which her procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;
3. carry out a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the alleged torture of Ms. Aligato, in order to identify all those responsible and to bring them to justice and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
4. more generally, ensure women the right to be free from discrimination, including violence, in line with the international laws and standards;
5. guarantee the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.

Addresses:

• Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President, Republic of the Philippines, New Executive Bldg., Malacañang Palace Compound, J. P. Laurel St. San Miguel, Manila, Philippines. E-mail: opnet@ops.gov.ph, kgma@yahoogroups.com. Fax: (+63) 2 929 3968
• Hon. Purificacion Valera Quisumbing, Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights, SAAC Building, Commonwealth Avenue, U.P. Complex, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, Fax: +632 929-0102, Email: drpvq@chr.gov.ph
• Atty. Teresita Lopez, Provincial Prosecutor, Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, Regional Trial Court, Tacloban City
• Atty. Paquito Nacino, Director, CHR Region VIII, 3rd Flr, R. Yu Salazar Annex Bldg, Salazar St., Tacloban City, Telefax: +63 53 321 3396
• Sec. Eduardo Ermita, Department of National Defense, Camp Aguinaldo, EDSA, 1110 Quezon City, Philippines, E-mail: snd@dnd.gov.ph, sndermita@dnd.gov.ph
• Hon. Primo Miro, Ombudsman of Visayas, Department of Agriculture Compound, M. Velez St. Cebu City, Tel: 063 32 2533195, Fax: 063 32 253 2976
• Sec. Raul Gonzales, Department of Justice, P. Faura, Ermita, 1004 Manila, Email: sechbp@info.com.ph
• Lt. Col. Lope C. Dagoy, Commanding Officer, 19th IB PA, 802nd Brigade, Barangay Aguiting, Kananga, Leyte
• Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo, Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations in Geneva, Avenue Blanc 47, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 (0)22 716 19 32, Email: mission.philippines@ties.itu.in
• Embassy of the Philippines in Brussels, Avenue Moliere / Molierelaan 297, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Tel; +32 (0)2 340 33 77 / (0)2 340 33 78, Fax: +32 (0)2 345 64 25.

Please also write to the embassies of the Philippines in your respective country.

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Geneva, 2 April 2007.

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.