The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) has urged the country's lawmakers to pass the bills that would create a National Preventive Mechanism to monitor and prevent acts of torture in the country.

NUPL's call was aired following the visit to the country of experts from the United Nations (UN) Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT).

“The NUPL echoes the SPT's call to expedite the approval of bills creating the mechanism currently before the House of Representatives and the Senate,” it said in a statement.

It said it "strongly advocates for the immediate establishment of a National Preventive Mechanism, a national monitoring body mandated to conduct regular visits to places of detention throughout the country.”

“This mechanism will be instrumental in securing access to redress and accountability for victims of torture while safeguarding the protection and dignity of individuals in detention,” it explained.

It lamented that the Philippine government has been “remiss in fulfilling its obligations to address and prevent torture since becoming a signatory to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1986 and its Optional Protocol in 2012”

“The NUPL draws attention to the alarming lack of convictions for torture, particularly concerning notorious cases like that of the Morong 43 health workers,” it said. 

“The suffering of pre-trial detainees in severely congested and inhumane conditions, exemplified by the tragic deaths of baby River and cancer patient Antonio Molina, reflects the government's callous and deliberate indifference to vulnerable populations in prison,” it added.

In a statement issued last Dec. 14, SPT delegation head Victor Zaharia said the Philippines should “fast-track the adoption of the bills currently in the House of Representatives and the Senate, which will create the national monitoring body officially called National Preventive Mechanism, and we welcome the invitation to provide technical assistance in this regard.”

“The magnitude of issues observed by the delegation reaffirms the urgency of establishing an independent torture prevention mechanism with unrestricted access to all places of deprivation of liberty. This national mechanism, with adequate resources, will be a key partner in preventing torture and ill-treatment in the Philippines,” Zaharia said.

The SPT delegation was in the Philippines from Dec. 3 to 14 and visited 40 places of deprivation of liberty in the country including police stations, jails, prisons, drug rehabilitation centers, reformation and education facilities for minors, immigration detention centres, military and drug enforcement agency facilities.