Republic Act No.

7438 April 27, 1992

AN ACT DEFINING CERTAIN RIGHTS OF PERSON ARRESTED, DETAINED OR UNDER

CUSTODIAL INVESTIGATION AS WELL AS THE DUTIES OF THE ARRESTING,
DETAINING AND INVESTIGATING OFFICERS, AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR
VIOLATIONS THEREOF

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress

assembled::

Section 1. Statement of Policy. It is the policy of the Senate to value the dignity of every
human being and guarantee full respect for human rights.

Section 2. Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or Under Custodial Investigation; Duties of

Public Officers.

(a) Any person arrested detained or under custodial investigation shall at all times be
assisted by counsel.

(b) Any public officer or employee, or anyone acting under his order or his place, who
arrests, detains or investigates any person for the commission of an offense shall
inform the latter, in a language known to and understood by him, of his rights to
remain silent and to have competent and independent counsel, preferably of his own
choice, who shall at all times be allowed to confer privately with the person arrested,
detained or under custodial investigation. If such person cannot afford the services of
his own counsel, he must be provided with a competent and independent counsel by
the investigating officer.
lawphi 1

(c) The custodial investigation report shall be reduced to writing by the investigating
officer, provided that before such report is signed, or thumbmarked if the person
arrested or detained does not know how to read and write, it shall be read and
adequately explained to him by his counsel or by the assisting counsel provided by
the investigating officer in the language or dialect known to such arrested or detained
person, otherwise, such investigation report shall be null and void and of no effect
whatsoever.

(d) Any extrajudicial confession made by a person arrested, detained or under

custodial investigation shall be in writing and signed by such person in the presence
of his counsel or in the latter's absence, upon a valid waiver, and in the presence of
any of the parents, elder brothers and sisters, his spouse, the municipal mayor, the
municipal judge, district school supervisor, or priest or minister of the gospel as
chosen by him; otherwise, such extrajudicial confession shall be inadmissible as
evidence in any proceeding.

(e) Any waiver by a person arrested or detained under the provisions of Article 125 of
the Revised Penal Code, or under custodial investigation, shall be in writing and
signed by such person in the presence of his counsel; otherwise the waiver shall be
null and void and of no effect.

(f) Any person arrested or detained or under custodial investigation shall be allowed
visits by or conferences with any member of his immediate family, or any medical
doctor or priest or religious minister chosen by him or by any member of his
immediate family or by his counsel, or by any national non-governmental
organization duly accredited by the Commission on Human Rights of by any
international non-governmental organization duly accredited by the Office of the
President. The person's "immediate family" shall include his or her spouse, fianc or
fiance, parent or child, brother or sister, grandparent or grandchild, uncle or aunt,
nephew or niece, and guardian or ward.

As used in this Act, "custodial investigation" shall include the practice of issuing an
"invitation" to a person who is investigated in connection with an offense he is suspected to
have committed, without prejudice to the liability of the "inviting" officer for any violation of
law.

Section 3. Assisting Counsel. Assisting counsel is any lawyer, except those directly
affected by the case, those charged with conducting preliminary investigation or those
charged with the prosecution of crimes.
The assisting counsel other than the government lawyers shall be entitled to the following
fees;

(a) The amount of One hundred fifty pesos (P150.00) if the suspected person is
chargeable with light felonies; lawphi1alf

(b) The amount of Two hundred fifty pesos (P250.00) if the suspected person is
chargeable with less grave or grave felonies;

(c) The amount of Three hundred fifty pesos (P350.00) if the suspected person is
chargeable with a capital offense.

The fee for the assisting counsel shall be paid by the city or municipality where the
custodial investigation is conducted, provided that if the municipality of city cannot
pay such fee, the province comprising such municipality or city shall pay the fee:
Provided, That the Municipal or City Treasurer must certify that no funds are
available to pay the fees of assisting counsel before the province pays said fees.

In the absence of any lawyer, no custodial investigation shall be conducted and the
suspected person can only be detained by the investigating officer in accordance with the
provisions of Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code.

Section 4. Penalty Clause. (a) Any arresting public officer or employee, or any investigating
officer, who fails to inform any person arrested, detained or under custodial investigation of
his right to remain silent and to have competent and independent counsel preferably of his
own choice, shall suffer a fine of Six thousand pesos (P6,000.00) or a penalty of
imprisonment of not less than eight (8) years but not more than ten (10) years, or both. The
penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification shall also be imposed upon the investigating
officer who has been previously convicted of a similar offense.

The same penalties shall be imposed upon a public officer or employee, or anyone
acting upon orders of such investigating officer or in his place, who fails to provide a
competent and independent counsel to a person arrested, detained or under
custodial investigation for the commission of an offense if the latter cannot afford the
services of his own counsel.

(b) Any person who obstructs, prevents or prohibits any lawyer, any member of the
immediate family of a person arrested, detained or under custodial investigation, or
any medical doctor or priest or religious minister chosen by him or by any member of
his immediate family or by his counsel, from visiting and conferring privately with him,
or from examining and treating him, or from ministering to his spiritual needs, at any
hour of the day or, in urgent cases, of the night shall suffer the penalty of
imprisonment of not less than four (4) years nor more than six (6) years, and a fine of
four thousand pesos (P4,000.00). lawphi1

The provisions of the above Section notwithstanding, any security officer with custodial
responsibility over any detainee or prisoner may undertake such reasonable measures as
may be necessary to secure his safety and prevent his escape.

Section 5. Repealing Clause. Republic Act No. No. 857, as amended, is hereby repealed.
Other laws, presidential decrees, executive orders or rules and regulations, or parts thereof
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 6. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its publication in
the Official Gazette or in any daily newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines.

Approved: April 27, 1992. lawp

REPUBLIC ACT N0. 9745

AN ACT PENALIZING TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING

TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT AND PRESCRIBING PENALTIES THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress

assembled:

Section 1. Short Title. - This Ad shall be known as the "Anti-Torture Act of 2009".

Section 2. Statement of Policy. - It is hereby declared the policy of the State:

(a) To value the dignity of every human person and guarantee full respect for human
rights;

(b) To ensure that the human rights of all persons, including suspects, detainees and
prisoners are respected at all times; and that no person placed under investigation or
held in custody of any person in authority or, agent of a person authority shall be
subjected to physical, psychological or mental harm, force, violence, threat or
intimidation or any act that impairs his/her free wi11 or in any manner demeans or
degrades human dignity;

(c) To ensure that secret detention places, solitary, incommunicado or other similar
forms of detention, where torture may be carried out with impunity, are prohibited;
and

(d) To fully adhere to the principles and standards on the absolute condemnation and
prohibition of torture as provided for in the 1987 Philippine Constitution; various
international instruments to which the Philippines is a State party such as, but not
limited to, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDA W) and the Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT);
and all other relevant international human rights instruments to which the Philippines
is a signatory.

Section 3. Definitions. - For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall mean:

(a) "Torture" refers to an act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or
mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from
him/her or a third person information or a confession; punishing him/her for an act
he/she or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed; or
intimidating or coercing him/her or a third person; or for any reason based on
discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the
instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a person in authority or agent of
a person in authority. It does not include pain or Buffering arising only from, inherent
in or incidental to lawful sanctions.

(b) "Other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment" refers to a

deliberate and aggravated treatment or punishment not enumerated under Section 4
of this Act, inflicted by a person in authority or agent of a person in authority against
a person under his/her custody, which attains a level of severity causing suffering,
gross humiliation or debasement to the latter.

(c) "Victim" refers to the person subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment or punishment as defined above and any individual who has
suffered harm as a result of any act(s) of torture, or other cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment or punishment.

(d) "Order of Battle" refers to any document or determination made by the military,
police or any law enforcement agency of the government, listing the names of
persons and organizations that it perceives to be enemies of the State and that it
considers as legitimate targets as combatants that it could deal with, through the use
of means allowed by domestic and international law.

Section 4. Acts of Torture. - For purposes of this Act, torture shall include, but not be limited
to, the following:
(a) 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:

(1) Systematic beating, headbanging, punching, kicking, striking with

truncheon or rifle butt or other similar objects, and jumping on the stomach;

(2) Food deprivation or forcible feeding with spoiled food, animal or human
excreta and other stuff or substances not normally eaten;

(3) Electric shock;

(4) 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);

(5) The submersion of the head in water or water polluted with excrement,
urine, vomit and/or blood until the brink of suffocation;

(6) Being tied or forced to assume fixed and stressful bodily position;

(7) Rape and sexual abuse, including the insertion of foreign objects into the
sex organ or rectum, or electrical torture of the genitals;

(8) Mutilation or amputation of the essential parts of the body such as the
genitalia, ear, tongue, etc.;

(9) Dental torture or the forced extraction of the teeth;

(10) Pulling out of fingernails;

(11) Harmful exposure to the elements such as sunlight and extreme cold;

(12) The use of plastic bag and other materials placed over the head to the
point of asphyxiation;

(13) The use of psychoactive drugs to change the perception, memory.

alertness or will of a person, such as:

(i) The administration or 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

(14) Other analogous acts of physical torture; and

(b) "Mental/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:

(1) Blindfolding;

(2) Threatening a person(s) or his/fher relative(s) with bodily harm, execution

or other wrongful acts;

(3) Confinement in solitary cells or secret detention places;

(4) Prolonged interrogation;

(5) Preparing a prisoner for a "show trial", public display or public humiliation
of a detainee or prisoner;

(6) Causing unscheduled transfer of a person deprived of liberty from one

place to another, creating the belief that he/she shall be summarily executed;
 (7) Maltreating a member/s of a person's family;

(8) Causing the torture sessions to be witnessed by the person's family,

relatives or any third party;

(9) Denial of sleep/rest;

(10) 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;

(11) Deliberately prohibiting the victim to communicate with any member of

his/her family; and

(12) Other analogous acts of mental/psychological torture.

Section 5. Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. - Other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment refers to a deliberate and aggravated
treatment or punishment not enumerated under Section 4 of this Act, inflicted by a person in
authority or agent of a person in authority against another person in custody, which attains a
level of severity sufficient to cause suffering, gross humiliation or debasement to the latter.
The assessment of the level of severity shall depend on all the circumstances of the case,
including the duration of the treatment or punishment, its physical and mental effects and, in
some cases, the sex, religion, age and state of health of the victim.

Section 6. Freedom from Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, An Absolute Bight. - Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
or punishment as criminal acts shall apply to all circumstances. A state of war or a threat of
war, internal political instability, or any other public emergency, or a document or any
determination comprising an "order of battle" shall not and can never be invoked as a
justification for torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

Section 7. Prohibited Detention. - Secret detention places, solitary confinement,

incommunicado or other similar forms of detention, where torture may be carried out with
impunity. Are hereby prohibited.

In which case, the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) and other law enforcement. agencies concerned shall make an updated list of all
detention centers and facilities under their respective jurisdictions with the corresponding
data on the prisoners or detainees incarcerated or detained therein such as, among others,
names, date of arrest and incarceration, and the crime or offense committed. This list shall
be made available to the public at all times, with a copy of the complete list available at the
respective national headquarters of the PNP and AFP. A copy of the complete list shall
likewise be submitted by the PNP, AFP and all other law enforcement agencies to the
Commission on Human Rights (CHR), such list to be periodically updated, by the same
agencies, within the first five (5) days of every month at the minimum. Every regional office of
the PNP, AFP and other law enforcement agencies shall also maintain a similar list far all
detainees and detention facilities within their respective areas, and shall make the same
available to the public at all times at their respective regional headquarters, and submit a
copy. updated in the same manner provided above, to the respective regional offices of the
CHR.

Section 8. Applicability of the Exclusionary Rule; Exception. - 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.

Section 9. Institutional Protection of Torture Victims and Other Persons Involved. - A victim
of torture shall have the following rights in the institution of a criminal complaint for torture:

(a) To have a prompt and an impartial investigation by the CHR and by agencies of
government concerned such as the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Public
Attorney's Office (PAO), the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the
AFP. A prompt investigation shall mean a maximum period of sixty (60) working days
from the time a complaint for torture is filed within which an investigation report
and/or resolution shall be completed and made available. An appeal whenever
available shall be resolved within the same period prescribed herein,
 (b) To have sufficient government protection against all forms of harassment; threat
and/or intimidation as a consequence of the filing of said complaint or the
presentation of evidence therefor. In which case, the State through its appropriate
agencies shall afford security in order to ensure his/her safety and all other persons
involved in the investigation and prosecution such as, but not limited to, his/her
lawyer, witnesses and relatives; and

(c) To be accorded sufficient protection in the manner by which he/she testifies and
presents evidence in any fora in order to avoid further trauma.

Section 10. Disposition of Writs of Habeas Corpus, Amparo and Habeas Data Proceedings
and Compliance with a Judicial 07'der. - A writ of habeas corpus or writ of amparo or writ of
habeas data proceeding, if any, filed on behalf of the victim of torture or other cruel,
degrading and inhuman treatment or punishment shall be disposed of expeditiously and any
order of release by virtue thereof, or other appropriate order of a court relative thereto, shall
be executed or complied with immediately.

Section 11. Assistance in Filing a Complaint. - The CHR and the PAO shall render legal
assistance in the investigation and monitoring and/or filing of the complaint for a person who
suffers torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, or for any
interested party thereto.

The victim or interested party may also seek legal assistance from the Barangay Human
Rights Action Center (BRRAC) nearest him/her as well as from human rights nongovernment
organizations (NGOs).

Section 12. Right to' Physical, Medical and Psychological Examination. - Before and after
interrogation, every person arrested, detained or under custodial investigation shall have the
right to he informed of his/her right to demand physical examination by an independent and
competent doctor of his/her own choice. If such person cannot afford the services of his/her
own doctor, he/she shall he provided by the State with a competent and independent doctor
to conduct physical examination. The State shall endeavor to provide the victim with
psychological evaluation if available under the circumstances. If the person arrested is a
female, she shall be attended to preferably by a female doctor. Furthermore, any person
arrested, detained or under custodial investigation, including his/her immediate family, shall
have the right to immediate access to proper and adequate medical treatment. The physical
examination and/or psychological evaluation of the victim shall be contained in a medical
report, duly signed by the attending physician, which shall include in detail his/her medical
history and findings, and which shall he attached to the custodial investigation report. Such
report shall be considered a public document.

Following applicable protocol agreed upon by agencies tasked to conduct physical,

psychological and mental examinations, the medical reports shall, among others, include:

(a) The name, age and address of the patient or victim;

(b) The name and address of the nearest kin of the patient or victim;

(c) The name and address of the person who brought the patient or victim for
physical, psychological and mental examination, and/or medical treatment;

(d) The nature and probable cause of the patient or victim's injury, pain and disease
and/or trauma;

(e) The approximate time and date when the injury, pain, disease and/or trauma
was/were sustained;

(f) The place where the injury, pain, disease and/or trauma was/were sustained;

(g) The time, date and nature of treatment necessary; and

(h) The diagnosis, the prognosis and/or disposition of the patient.

Any person who does not wish to avail of the rights under this pr<;lvision may knowingly and
voluntarily waive such rights in writing, executed in the presence and assistance of his/her
counsel.

Section 13. Who are Criminally Liable. - Any person who actually participated Or induced
another in the commission of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or
punishment or who cooperated in the execution of the act of torture or other cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment or punishment by previous or simultaneous acts shall be liable as
principal

Any superior military, police or law enforcement officer or senior government official who
issued an order to any lower ranking personnel to commit torture for whatever purpose shall
be held equally liable as principals.

The immediate commanding officer of the unit concerned of the AFP or the immediate senior
public official of the PNP and other law enforcement agencies shall be held liable as a
principal to the crime of torture or other cruel or inhuman and degrading treatment or
punishment for any act or omission, or negligence committed by him/her that shall have led,
assisted, abetted or allowed, whether directly or indirectly, the commission thereof by his/her
subordinates. If he/she has knowledge of or, owing to the circumstances at the time, should
have known that acts of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or
punishment shall be committed, is being committed, or has been committed by his/her
subordinates or by others within his/her area of responsibility and, despite such knowledge,
did not take preventive or corrective action either before, during or immediately after its
commission, when he/she has the authority to prevent or investigate allegations of torture or
other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment but failed to prevent or
investigate allegations of such act, whether deliberately or due to negligence shall also be
liable as principals.

Any public officer or employee shall be liable as an accessory if he/she has knowledge that
torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment is being committed
and without having participated therein, either as principal or accomplice, takes part
subsequent to its commission in any of the following manner:

(a) By themselves profiting from or assisting the offender to profit from the effects of
the act of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment;

(b) By concealing the act of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
or punishment and/or destroying the effects or instruments thereof in order to prevent
its discovery; or(c) By harboring, concealing or assisting m the escape of the
principal/s in the act of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or
punishment: Provided, That the accessory acts are done with the abuse of the
official's public functions.

Section 14. Penalties. - (a) The penalty of reclusion perpetua shall be imposed upon the
perpetrators of the following acts:

(1) Torture resulting in the death of any person;

(2) Torture resulting in mutilation;

(3) Torture with rape;

(4) Torture with other forms of sexual abuse and, in consequence of torture,
the victim shall have become insane, imbecile, impotent, blind or maimed for
life; and

(5) Torture committed against children.

(b) The penalty of reclusion temporal shall be imposed on those who commit any act
of mental/psychological torture resulting in insanity, complete or partial amnesia, fear
of becoming insane or suicidal tendencies of the victim due to guilt, worthlessness or
shame.

(c) The penalty of prision correccional shall be imposed on those who commit any act
of torture resulting in psychological, mental and emotional harm other than those
described 1n paragraph (b) of this section. '

(d) The penalty of prision mayor in its medium and maximum periods shall be
imposed if, in consequence of torture, the victim shall have lost the power of speech
or the power to hear or to smell; or shall have lost an eye, a hand, a foot, an arm or a
leg; or shall have lost the use of any such member; Or shall have become
permanently incapacitated for labor.
 (e) The penalty of prision mayor in its minimum and medium periods shall be
imposed if, in consequence of torture, the victim shall have become deformed or
shall have lost any part of his/her body other than those aforecited, or shall have lost
the use thereof, or shall have been ill or incapacitated for labor for a period of more
than ninety (90) days.

(f) The penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its
minimum period shall be imposed if, in consequence of torture, the victim shall have
been ill or incapacitated for labor for mare than thirty (30) days but not more than
ninety (90) days.

(g) The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium period shall be
imposed if, in consequence of torture, the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated
for labor for thirty (30) days or less.

(h) The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed for acts constituting cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as defined in Section 5 of this Act.

(i) The penalty of prision correccional shall be imposed upon those who establish,
operate and maintain secret detention places and/or effect or cause to effect solitary
confinement, incommunicado or other similar forms of prohibited detention as
provided in Section 7 of this Act where torture may be carried out with impunity.

(j) The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed upon the responsible officers or
personnel of the AFP, the PNP and other law enforcement agencies for failure to
perform his/her duty to maintain, submit or make available to the public an updated
list of detention centers and facilities with the corresponding data on the prisoners or
detainees incarcerated or detained therein, pursuant to Section 7 of this Act.

Section 15. Torture as a Separate and Independent Crime. - 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.

Section 16. Exclusion from the Coverage of Special Amnesty Law. - In order not to
depreciate the crime of torture, persons who have committed any act of torture shall not
benefit from any special amnesty law or similar measures that will have the effect of
exempting them from any criminal proceedings and sanctions.

Section 17. Applicability of Refouler. - No person shall be expelled, returned or extradited to

another State where there are substantial grounds to believe that such person shall be in
danger of being subjected to torture. For the purposes of determining whether such grounds
exist, the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Secretary of the
DOJ, in coordination with the Chairperson of the CHR, shall take into account all relevant
considerations including, where applicable and not limited to, the existence in the requesting
State of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.

Section 18. Compensation to Victims of Torture. - Any person who has suffered torture shall
have the right to claim for compensation as provided for under Republic Act No. 7309:
Provided, That in no case shall compensation be any lower than Ten thousand pesos
(P10,000.00). Victims of torture shall also have the right to claim for compensation from such
other financial relief programs that may be made available to him/her under existing law and
rules and regulations.

Section 19. Formulation of a Rehabilitation Program. - Within one (1) year from the
effectivity of this Act, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the DOJ
and the Department of Health (DOH) and such other concerned government agencies, and
human rights organizations shall formulate a comprehensive rehabilitation program for
victims of torture and their families. The DSWD, the DOJ and thc DOH shall also call on
human rights nongovernment organizations duly recognized by the government to actively
participate in the formulation of such program that shall provide for the physical, mental,
social, psychological healing and development of victims of torture and their families. Toward
the attainment of restorative justice, a parallel rehabilitation program for persons who have
committed torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment shall likewise be
formulated by the same agencies.

Section 20. Monitoring of Compliance with this Act. - An Oversight Committee is hereby
created to periodically oversee the implementation of this Act. The Committee shall be
headed by a Commissioner of the CRR, with the following as members: the Chairperson of
the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, the respective Chairpersons of the
House of Representatives' Committees on Justice and Human Rights, and the Minority
Leaders of both houses or their respective representatives in the minority.

Section 21. Education and Information Campaign. - The CHR, the DOJ, the Department of
National Defense (DND), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and
such other concerned parties in both the public and private sectors shall ensure that
education and information regarding prohibition against torture and other cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment or punishment shall be fully included in the training of law enforcement
personnel, civil or military, medical personnel, public officials and other persons who may be
involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of
arrest, detention or imprisonment. The Department of Education (DepED) and the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) shall also ensure the integration of human rights
education courses in all primary, secondary and tertiary level academic institutions
nationwide.

Section 22. Applicability of the Revised Penal Code. - The provisions of the Revised Penal
Code insofar as they are applicable shall be suppletory to this Act. Moreover, if the
commission of any crime punishable under Title Eight (Crimes Against Persons) and Title
Nine (Crimes Against Personal Liberty and Security) of the Revised Penal Code is attended
by any of the acts constituting torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or
punishment as defined herein, the penalty to be imposed shall be in its maximum period.

Section 23. Appropriations. - The amount of Five million pesos (Php5,000,000.00) is hereby
appropriated to the CHR for the initial implementation of tills Act. Thereafter, such sums as
may be necessary for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included in the
annual General Appropriations Act.

Section 24. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The DOJ and the CHR, with the active
participation of human rights nongovernmental organizations, shall promulgate the rules and
regulations for the effective implementation of tills Act. They shall also ensure the full
dissemination of such rules and regulations to all officers and members of various law
enforcement agencies.

Section 25. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is declared invalid or
unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force
and effect.

Section 26. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders or rules and regulations
contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.

Section 27. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the
Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,

(Sgd.) PROSPERO C. NOGRALES (Sgd.) JUAN PONCE ENRILE

Speaker of the House of President of the Senate
Representatives

This Act which is a consolidation of House Bill No. 5709 and Senate Bill No. 1978 was finally
passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on September 2,2009.

(Sgd.) MARILYN B. BARUA-YAP (Sgd.) EMMA LIRIO-REYES

Secretary General Secretary of Senate
House of Representives

Approved: November 10, 2009

(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

President of the Philippines