CAT/C/PHL/CO/3 Reporting acts of torture and witness protection 25. The Committee is concerned that victims of and witnesses to torture have been reluctant to report cases because of a lack of adequate information regarding their rights under various laws and the options available to them to lodge a complaint; out of fear of harassment and reprisals from the perpetrators; and lack of protection. The Committee is also concerned about reports of inadequate witness protection and the reluctance of government doctors who examine the victims to indicate findings of torture on their medical certificate for fear of intimidation or reprisals (arts. 2, 12-14 and 16). 26. The State party should: (a) Provide comprehensive information to victims of torture and their families regarding the laws and options available to them to lodge a complaint, and provide ample protection to victims of torture, their families and witnesses, with due consideration to the urgency of the need for protection from threats to their lives and security; (b) Strengthen the witness protection programme through amendments to the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act (Republic Act No. 6981), by according high priority to the funding of the programme and providing expanded rights and benefits to prospective witnesses, including secure housing and financial or livelihood assistance, to help the authorities prosecute cases of torture, and provide effective protection against reprisals and other forms of harassment to all witnesses of torture and ill-treatment; (c) Ensure adequate protection of health professionals documenting torture and ill-treatment from intimidation and other forms of reprisals, including by ensuring that they are not hierarchically subordinated to the head of the detention facility or other security organs; (d) Ensure that health professionals are able to examine victims independently and to maintain the confidentiality of medical records. Conditions of detention 27. The Committee is concerned at the persistence of appalling conditions of detention prevailing in the State party, both in police lock-up cells and the jails and detention facilities run by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which do not meet minimum international standards and may constitute ill-treatment or torture. It is particularly concerned at the persistence of critical and chronic overcrowding in all detention facilities, some of which may be operating at 380 per cent of capacity. Conditions in all places of deprivation of liberty include dilapidated and small cells, in some of which detainees are forced to sleep while sitting or standing, unsanitary conditions, inadequate amounts of food, poor nutrition, insufficient natural and artificial lighting and poor ventilation, which cause inter-prisoner violence and the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, the incidence of which is extremely high. The Committee is particularly alarmed at information that tuberculosis eradication programmes were not a priority in the past because they were seen as irrelevant to the maintenance of security. The Committee is concerned about sexual violence against detained persons and about the treatment of detainees belonging to minorities (arts. 2, 11 and 16). 28. The State party should make public the findings and implement scrupulously the recommendations of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment arising from its visit to the country in 2015. 8