An Act Penalizing Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment and Prescribing Penalties Therefor

AN ACT PENALIZING
TORTURE AND OTHER

CRUEL, INHUMAN AND
DEGRADING TREATMENT
OR PUNISHMENT AND
PRESCRIBING PENALTIES
THEREFOR
Torture is abhorrent. Torture is illegal.
Yet torture is inflicted on men, women
and children in the Philippines and well
over half the countries around the world.
GIST OF THE LAW
The Anti-Torture Law criminalizes all forms of

torture — physical, mental, psychological and
pharmacological (the latter is done through
administering drugs)
Acts Punishable
• Physical torture – is a form of treatment or
punishment inflicted by a person in authority
or agent of a person in authority upon another
in his/her custody that causes severe pain,
exhaustion, disability or dysfunction of one or
more parts of the body, such as:
• a. Systematic beating, head banging,
punching, kicking, striking with truncheon or
rifle butt or other similar objects, and jumping
on the stomach;
b. Food deprivation or forcible feeding with
spoiled food, animal or human excreta and
other stuff or substances not normally eaten
c. Electric shock;
d. Cigarette burning; burning by electrically
heated rods, hot oil, acid; by the rubbing of
pepper or other chemical substances on
mucous membranes, or acids or spices
directly on the wound(s);
e. The submersion of the head in water or
water polluted with excrement, urine, vomit,
and/or blood until the brink of suffocation;
f. Being tied or forced to assume fixed and
stressful bodily position;
g. Rape and sexual abuse, including the
insertion of foreign objects into the sex
organ or rectum, or electrical torture of the
genitals;
h. Mutilation or amputation of the essential
parts of the body such as the genitalia, ear,
tongue, etc.;
j. Pulling out of fingernails;
k. Harmful exposure to the elements such
as sunlight and extreme cold;
l. The use of plastic bag and other
materials placed over the head to the point
of asphyxiation;
• m. The use of psychoactive drugs to
change the perception, memory.
alertness or will of a person, such as:
• i. The administration of drugs to induce
confession and/or reduce mental
competency; or
• ii. The use of drugs to induce extreme
pain or certain symptoms of a disease;
and
• n. Other analogous acts of physical
torture;
Mental or Psychological Torture –refers
to acts committed by a person in authority
or agent of a person in authority which are
calculated to affect or confuse the mind
and/or undermine a person’s dignity and
morale, such as:
a. Blindfolding;
b. Threatening a person(s) or his/her
relative(s) with bodily harm, execution or
other wrongful acts;
c. Confinement in solitary cells or secret
detention places;
d. Prolonged interrogation;
e. Preparing a prisoner for a “show trial”,
public display or public humiliation of a
detainee or prisoner;
f. Causing unscheduled transfer of a
person deprived of liberty from one place
to another, creating the belief that he/she
shall be summarily executed;
g. Maltreating a member/s of a person’s
family;
h. Causing the torture sessions to be
witnessed by the person’s family, relatives
or any third party;
i. Denial of sleep/rest;
j. Shame infliction such as stripping the
person naked, parading him/her in public
places, shaving the victim’s head or
putting marks on his/her body against
his/her will;
k. Deliberately prohibiting the victim to
communicate with any member of his/her
family; and
l. Other analogous acts of
mental/psychological torture.
Non-applicability of Exclusionary Rule
(Section 8)
Any confession, admission or statement

obtained as a result of torture shall be
inadmissible in evidence in any
proceedings, except if the same is used as
evidence against a person or persons
accused of committing torture.
Torture as a Separate and Independent
Crime (Section 15)
Torture as a crime shall not absorb or shall not

be absorbed by any other crime or felony
committed as a consequence, or as a means in
the conduct or commission thereof. In which
case, torture shall be treated as a separate and
independent criminal act whose penalties shall
be imposable without prejudice to any other
criminal liability provided for by domestic and
international laws.
The law also
requires the
military and
police to submit a
monthly report
listing all its
detention centers,
including
safehouses, to the
CHR
The law also includes
provisions for the
protection of
complainants and
witnesses and persons
involved in the
prosecution and the
establishment of a
rehabilitation program
for victims.
Under the Anti-Torture Law, an act of torture is
defined in line with the Convention against
Torture (CAT), which means inflicting physical
and psychological pain on a victim for
purposes of extracting a confession. But the
investigators, prosecutors and the judges put a
personal interpretation on the violation of
torture which effectively defeats any sort of
remedy to eliminate torture.
The Philippine government approved a
Comprehensive Rehabilitation Programs
for Torture Victims which was crafted by
inter-agencies headed by the
Commission of Human Rights (CHR)
• To provide medical, psychosocial
interventions and legal services to victims
and their families.
• To provide support services and

compensation/ reparation to victims and
their families to meet their needs through
linkages and referrals with other
agencies/organization.

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An Act Penalizing Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment and Prescribing Penalties Therefor

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AN ACT PENALIZING

TORTURE AND OTHER

The Anti-Torture Law criminalizes all forms of

Any confession, admission or statement

Torture as a crime shall not absorb or shall not

• To provide support services and

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