“I Was More Scared When I Got Released”: The Need to Implement the Convention against Torture
This interview was produced by the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) in partnership with its member organisation, the Balay Rehabilitation Centre. It seeks to highlight voices of survivors of torture from around the world. IRCT is a member of the United Against Torture Consortium together with OMCT, FIACT, APT, Omega Research Foundation and REDRESS.
Resty Mark Prado and Florence Saucelo do not hide their troubled past.
“As we grew older, we went down wrong paths,” says Saucelo, proudly wearing the T-shirt and cap of the Bulabog Boys, a gang founded by his father in 1994 in Bagong Silang, one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Manila, capital of the Philippines. “We have done wrong, but with every wrong that we did, we only did it in self-defence.”
Since former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte launched the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ in 2016, residents of Bagong Silang have been targeted by police. Hundreds have been killed, and thousands more arrested and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.
Prado and Saucelo were detained on drug-related charges when they were both 17. Now in their 20s they recall not only the brutal treatment by police, including beatings and mock execution, but also the clear threat of retaliation they faced that ensured their subsequent silence.
“I was more scared when I got released because I had no idea what could happen next, if they thought I had maybe reported them or something,” said Prado.
“Most of the police, if you have something with them, if you cause them trouble, they will come back to harm you,” said Florence. “If they get fired because of your complaint, your life is also going to be fired. They’ll come back for you.”
The United Against Torture Consortium (UATC) is marking the 40th anniversary of the Convention against Torture this year with a series of interview with torture survivors, experts and activists.
Article 13 of the Convention against Torture obligates each State Party to:
“[E]nsure that any individual who alleges he has been subjected to torture in any territory under its jurisdiction has the right to complain to, and to have his case promptly and impartially examined by, its competent authorities. Steps shall be taken to ensure that the complainant and witnesses are protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation as a consequence of his complaint or any evidence given.”
The Philippines became a State Party to the Convention in 1986 and passed its own Anti-Torture Act in 2009. Yet torture has been increasing in the country over the past decade, driven by the ‘War on Drugs’, which rights groups say has killed between 12,000 to 30,000 people and which is now being investigated by the International Criminal Court. Police in the Philippines systematically torture detainees from drug raids to either confess or name another person, a system known as ‘palit ulo’ or ‘change head’.
Since taking office in July 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has told foreign leaders he would end the ‘War on Drugs’. But in 2023, Human Rights Watch reported that Philippines police continue to kill suspected drug users with impunity.
Prado was released without charge. Saucelo was forced to confess to gambling and imprisoned for a month. Police found no evidence to charge them for drugs, and, fearing retribution, neither made any official complaint against the police over their treatment.
Shortly after their release, Prado and Saucelo discovered a much needed source of support for a different path: A journey through education at Balay Rehabilitation Centre’s project in Bagong Silang, which since 2010 has supported young people at risk of, or who had been in, conflict with the law.
The programme of education and self-empowerment has helped thousands of marginalised children and youth restore a sense of dignity and purpose in their lives, after being left seriously traumatised by police brutality.
“We learned how to communicate with others,” says Saucelo. “Before we had a bad tone, even with elders. Now if someone wants to open up we say, ‘Just go ahead. Speak up. We will listen’. Balay has taught us a lot.”
“We didn’t think we would learn such things from them,” says Prado. “But we learned about children’s rights, about human rights violations. In our situation … we need that knowledge.”