Protesters arrested during the September 21 rallies were beaten, extorted and denied medical care, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers said Tuesday, September 30.
The group of lawyers – who last week personally visited the Manila police stations where detainees were held – flatly rejected the Philippine National Police’s assertion that detainees received proper treatment.
“These are all barefaced lies,” the NUPL said in a statement in reaction to the Philippine National Police’s remarks at a press conference yesterday, where it denied that detainees were tortured or maltreated during custody.
Some of the detainees’ open wounds from their arrest were left untreated after “volunteer doctors were barred from entering detention facilities,” the lawyers’ group said.
“Independent reports document detainees being beaten, extorted for money in exchange for ‘protection,’ and coerced into admissions of guilt,” the NUPL added.
Relatives of detainees waiting outside the police station were also turned away and denied information about their detained kin, the NUPL said.
On September 21, at least 216 individuals were arrested by police, including 91 minors, with the youngest being nine years old.
NUPL last week said it conducted visits to various police stations in Manila where the arrested individuals were held. During this visit, the 13 lawyers part of NUPL said they saw “widespread and systematic” abuse of detainees.
Many of the arrested, the group found out, were mere “bystanders” during the demonstrations and denied inflicting violence or damage to property.
On Tuesday, in its statement refuting the PNP’s claim, the NUPL cited the case of Edzel Santos, a person with disability who was reportedly beaten with a truncheon while a sack was placed over his head.
Santos continues to struggle with pain and trauma, breaking down when recounting the incident, and requires ongoing treatment, according to the group.
“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 statement said.
The PNP has said detainees were placed in air-conditioned rooms and provided with nutritious food, decent clothing, and medical care.
But the NUPL says the current situation of the detainees mirrors past police abuses. “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,” it added.
The NUPL also said Manila Mayor Isko Moreno bears responsibility for the alleged abuses, noting that the Manila Police District falls under his operational supervision and control as local chief executive.
“When those functions result in violations of human rights, responsibility reaches his office as well,” the group said.
The NUPL called for the immediate release of all those it said were unlawfully arrested on September 21, urgent medical treatment for the injured, and a full independent inquiry into alleged torture and arbitrary detention.
The group said the police violated the Constitution’s prohibitions on arbitrary detention, torture, and cruel or degrading treatment, as well as domestic laws, including the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act and the Anti-Torture Act.
“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,” the statement said.
Minors released
The Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday also said it continues to monitor the welfare of 91 minors arrested during the protests.
Around 68 minors have been turned over to their parents, while non-Manila residents were brought to their respective local government units. The rest are temporarily housed in a youth facility awaiting pickup by their parents, the CHR said.
The CHR said it continues to investigate possible violations related to the protests, including the handling of minors.
The commission said citizens have the right to peaceful assembly and to express grievances, but acts of violence and destruction of property cannot be condoned as they endanger public safety.