Chiz endorses bill
penalizing perpetrators of involuntary disappearance
By Office of Senator Chiz Escudero
May
18, 2011
PASAY CITY – A
measure that would penalize enforced and involuntary disappearance and
send to jail its perpetrators for life has been endorsed to the
plenary by the Senate committee on justice and human rights.
Committee Report No.
36, or the Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act, has been
sponsored for deliberation and approval by committee chairman Senator
Chiz Escudero.
The bill adopts the
definition of involuntary disappearance under the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form
of deprivation of liberty committed by agents of the State or by
persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or
acquiescence of the State.”
It also covers their
“refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment
of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which places
such person outside the protection of the law.”
“The crime of
involuntary disappearance is not yet considered a crime under our laws
so we are endorsing this bill to institute mechanisms and strengthen
existing policies in favor of human rights. This measure, in tandem
with the recently approved Anti-Torture Law, will provide strong
muscles against abuse of state power,” Escudero said.
Once passed, the
perpetrator of involuntary disappearances will be slapped with a
maximum penalty of reclusion perpetua, which is equivalent to 20 years
and one day to 40 years of imprisonment.
“This measure seeks to
put further into operation Section 11, Article 11 of the Constitution,
which declares as a State policy the value of human dignity and the
guarantee of full respect to human rights,” Escudero explained.
The measure also
prohibits the issuances of “orders of battle” – official or otherwise
– by the military, police or any law enforcement agency to justify an
enforced or involuntary disappearance.
Escudero said the bill
also provides that prosecution of persons responsible for the
commission of enforced disappearance shall not be prescribed unless
the victim surfaces alive, in which case the prescription period shall
be 25 years starting from the date of reappearance.
It also mandates
expeditious disposition of habeas corpus and amparo proceedings and
immediate compliance with any release order by virtue of such
proceedings.
“Let us not just bear
witness to cases of involuntary and forced disappearances. These have
caused our country big black eyes and have placed us under tight watch
of both local and international rights groups and even foreign
governments. We need to put this measure in place,” Escudero said.
He added that there
must be no compromise for a strong legislation with effective
corrective penal measures if it is apparent that individual rights and
human dignity is violated by the agents of the state in the exercise
of their powers and authority.