Case PHL 290107.VAW
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Arbitrary arrest/ Torture/ Detention of a pregnant woman in conditions that amount to ill-treatment
Geneva, 29 January 2007.
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention concerning the following situation in the Philippines.
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), a member of the OMCT network, about the arrest and alleged torture of a six-month pregnant woman, Ms. Marilou Aligato (29), by army members in Kananga, Leyte, Eastern Visayas.
According to the information received, on 7 November 2006, around 3:30 p.m., Ms. Marilou Aligato accompanied by her aunt, Ms. Bencia Aligato, and the latter’s 13-year-ord daughter, got off a bus at Kananga when suddenly a group of military men seized her. The men allegedly introduced themselves as troops of the 19th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, covered her eyes with a piece of cloth and took her to the military headquarters at Barangay Aguitinh, Kananga.
There she was reportedly ill-treated while she was forced to reveal the whereabouts of her alleged companions of the New People’s Army (NPA). According to the information, one of the military men put a plastic bag over her head and tied it around her neck, and two other men identified as Hosena and Tapia hit her legs with weapons’ butts. She was also boxed in the chest by a man called Hamorawon and hit in the head and the back with guns by other soldiers.
According to the information received, Ms. Marilou Aligato was suspected of involvement in the killing of a soldier at Kananga Marked earlier that afternoon. She was kept in military custody for three days and sent to police custody at the Kananga Municipal Jail.
On 26 January 2007, Ms. Marilou Aligato was transferred to the Sub-Provincial Jail in Ormoc City, where she is reportedly in a small and crowded cell.
According to the information received, Ms. Aligato nearly lost her child as a result of the torture inflicted on her and still today she feels pain on her chest. As she is about to deliver, OMCT is seriously concerned for her health and her baby’s and recalls that in compliance with article 23.1 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, “Arrangements shall be made wherever practicable for children to be born in a hospital outside the institution.”
OMCT further recalls that according to the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women States shall “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons” (article 4.c).
Please write to the authorities in the Philippines urging them to:
Please also write to the embassies of the Philippines in your respective country.
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Geneva, 29 January 2007.
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
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