CAT/C/PHL/CO/3 Fundamental legal safeguards 9. The Committee is concerned that detained persons, including minors, do not enjoy, in practice, all the fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of their deprivation of liberty, in particular after arrest by police, and that registers are not kept at all stages of detention (arts. 2, 12, 13 and 16). 10. The State party should take effective measures to guarantee that all detained persons, including minors, are afforded in practice all the fundamental legal safeguards from the outset of their deprivation of liberty, in accordance with international standards, including: (a) To be informed about the charges against them and about their rights, both orally and in writing, in a language that they understand, and to sign a paper confirming that they have understood the information provided to them; (b) To have their detention recorded in a register; (c) To have prompt access to a lawyer from the very outset of the deprivation of liberty and, if necessary, to legal aid, including during the initial interrogation; (d) To have immediate access to an independent medical examination, free of charge and not in the presence of police officers; (e) To notify a family member or any other person of their own choice of their detention immediately after apprehension and not only after seeing a judge; (f) To be brought before a judge within the time frame prescribed by law. Arrests without warrants 11. The Committee is concerned that arrests are being carried out without warrants by police, military personnel and ordinary citizens. It is also concerned at concurring reports that some arrests are made by police officers in civilian clothes and that many detained suspects have reportedly been subjected to torture and ill-treatment with impunity. Arrests without warrants have reportedly also involved children (arts. 2, 11 and 16). 12. The State part should: (a) Take all measures necessary to put an immediate end to arrests without a warrant and immediately register all arrested persons; (b) Hold criminally, civilly and administratively liable and bring to justice all officials who arrest persons without a legal basis; (c) Ensure that all officials who have committed acts of torture against arrested persons incur individual and command criminal responsibility for such acts; (d) Provide redress and compensation to those who have been subjected to ill-treatment while in detention; (e) Better frame in law and in practice citizens arrests without a warrant. Pretrial detention and overcrowding 13. The Committee is concerned at the excessive length of pretrial detention, which sometimes exceeds the maximum penalty for the offence and can be as long as 16 years. It is also concerned that persons in pretrial detention may account for at some 85-90 per cent of detainees, a situation resulting largely from the strict application the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (Republic Act No. 9165), which has resulted in 4