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4.12. under section 1 of the memorandum Circular no. 2000-008
of the national Police Commission (nAPOLCOm), the police,
in particular the heads of police, can decide for themselves
and make available protection for any person who “is under
actual threat/s of death.” This could be used as an interim
protection mechanism for individuals who are experiencing
threats while seeking to make complaints about torture,
but this system is not being used and few if any victims are
aware of it.
4.13. Compensation not adequate: The compensation clause
under the planned legislations which is not yet in force,
namely under section 18 of house Bill 5709 and section
14 of the Senate Bill 1978, provides a ceiling of 10,000
pesos as the compensation to be given for torture victims
as provided for by RA 7309. This is inadequate and should
be reviewed, as provided by section 21 of the Declaration
of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and
Abuse of Power, because the existing law on compensation
is incongruent to the “bodily injury or impairment of
physical or mental health as a result of serious crimes” they
have suffered. Furthermore, the calculation of the cost of
compensation was computed 17 years ago.
4.14. Furthermore, the time requirement and documents which
the Department of Justice (DoJ), the implementing agency
of this law, stipulate as a requirement for torture victims
are difficulty to comply with. Section 5 of RA 7309 strictly
requires that applicants for compensation must file their
claims “within six (6) months after being released from
imprisonment or detention, or from the date the victim
suffered damage or injury,… otherwise, he is deemed to
have waived the same.” The authorities have been seen
to act arbitrarily concerning victims of different violent
acts – the DoJ actively provides compensation to victims
of heinous acts, such as bomb blast, by searching and
finding the victims and their families to process their claims
for compensation. however, in cases of torture and illegal
detention, the victims are left to process this themselves
and are strictly governed by the time limit and documentary
requirements which cause them ‘inconvenience’ in
contravention of the un Declaration. The victims are not
adequately “informed of their role and the scope, timing and
progress of the proceedings” and no “proper assistance to
victims throughout the legal process” is made available.
4.15. Arbitrary refusals and delays concerning compensation:
Section 3 of RA no. 7309 generally provides compensations
for persons “unjustly accused, convicted and imprisoned but
subsequently released by virtue of a judgment of acquittal;
unjustly detained and released without being charged;
victims of arbitrary or illegal detention; victims of violent
crimes, or committed with torture, cruelly or barbarity,”
article 2 � June-Sept 2012 Vol. 11, No. 2-3