PRESS RELEASE
August 27, 2010
This is the call of the United Against Torture Coalition (UATC)-Philippines on the denial of Senior Inspector Joselito Binayug during a Senate hearing that he was the police officer shown in a video torturing an alleged robbery suspect in a police precinct in Asuncion, Tondo.
The coalition said “while we laud the Senate inquiry on Binayug, we need more than an inquiry”.
Edeliza P. Hernandez, one of the spokespersons of the group and Executive Director of Medical Action Group (MAG) said “we are deeply concerned that torture and ill-treatment committed by the police are seldom investigated and prosecuted and that torturers are either rarely convicted or sentenced to lenient penalties that are not in accordance with the grave nature of their crimes.”