MANILA, Philippines - What are the implications of the cellphone video showing the alleged torture of a criminal suspect by a Tondo police officer?

According to incoming Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairwoman Etta Rosales, the torture video lays bare the tenuous relationships between the police, government prosecutors and the criminals they are prosecuting.

Rosales said the release of the "torture video," which was aired on ABS-CBN Tuesday night, shows that technology has improved in such a way "that incidents like these, which are usually done in secret, are now  being exposed."

"It shows the flawed criminal justice system that we have. Normally they torture criminal suspects in order to extract information but in the law, extracting evidence through torture cannot be admissible evidence in court. The question here is - is this accepted by some prosecutors as evidence in court?" she asked in an ANC "Headstart" interview.

"This means there is a deeper problem in the relationships between the torturer-police and prosecutor. What the police should have done was jail the suspect and investigate him in the presence of a lawyer. There is a due process there. There must be certainty of prosecution and conviction but there should also be rehabilitation in the process," she added.

Rosales said those behind the alleged torture of the detainee are criminally liable for violating the Anti-Torture Act and the crime suspect's right to human dignity. She said the Anti-Torture Law criminalizes torture as a method for extracting evidence from suspects.

She also said the National Police Commission (Napolcom) should investigate whether the victim is still alive following reports that the victim was already killed.

"That's not just torture, it's criminal, it's also murder and the police in uniform watching were all conspirators to the crime," she said.

On Wednesday, President Noynoy Aquino confirmed he is appointing Rosales to lead the human rights body. Rosales' appointment came right after the alleged torture video went public.

Reform criminal justice

The incoming CHR chief said the Tondo incident may be a manifestation of the lack of control by the Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership on their subordinates.

"We have 1,492 municipalities. Every municipality has a police station that is supposed to take care of the community peace and order and human rights situation. But if a station as close to us like the police station in Tondo is not monitored by higher-ups, we have a big problem," she said.

Pointing out the need to reform the country's flawed justice system, Rosales said she would push to speed-up investigations and give the human rights body more teeth. She also noted the need for aligned agencies to improve collaboration work during investigations on cases of human rights violations.

"I believe the Department of Justice can talk to the Commission on Human Rights and probably lend some prosecutors and orient them from a human rights perspective," she said.

The country's current justice secretary, Leila de Lima, is the former CHR chief before Rosales.

No to death penalty

Under her watch, Rosales said the CHR will prioritize cases of extrajudicial killings, involuntary disappearances and police brutality.

"The entire range of the criminal justice system must be anchored on human rights and the rule of law. But the CHR has a particular role to play in ensuring that non-derogatory rights, like the right to life, human dignity, and liberty are protected even for suspected criminals," Rosales said on ANC's "The World Tonight."

She said every citizen is a stakeholder in cultivating a culture of human rights against a culture of impunity and violence.

She, however, added that she will not move to restore the death penalty even for the accused in the massacre of 57 people including 30 journalists in Maguindanao in November 2009.

"You can't pay for the life that is lost. It is for him to suffer the consequences of his deed and space to internalize and prepare himself for the next life," said Rosales, who authored the bill pushing for the abolition of the death penalty.

A staunch human rights defender, Rosales is creditted for having led more than 9,000 human rights victims under the Marcos regime who filed and won a class action suit in the US Hawaii District Court.