E/CN.4/1991/17 page 68 207. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the Government of the Philippines for the invitation extended to him. He also wishes to express his sincere gratitude to all the persons he met during his visit, be they government officials, other holders of official posts or non-governmental persons, for the warm and kind way in which he was received and for the useful information provided for him during the meetings. 2. Background and legal and institutional framework 208. When in February 1986 a popular uprising brought to an end the 14-years1 rule of President Marcos the new administration under President Corazon C. Aquino solemnly declared that it would restore the rule of law and respect for human rights in the country. A new Constitution was adopted by popular referendum in 1987. Article 2, Section 11 provides that "the State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights". Article III contains a Bill of Rights. Its Section 12 provides, inter alia, that "no torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which vitiate the free will shall be used against [a person under investigation for the commission of an offense]. Secret detention places, solitary, incommunicado, or other similar forms of detention are prohibited". It further provides that any confession obtained [under duress] shall be inadmissible as evidence and that the law shall provide penal and civil sanctions for violations of this section as well as compensation to and rehabilitation of victims of torture or similar practices, and their families. Article XIII, Section 17 establishes an independent office called the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) which, among its other functions, "shall investigate, on its own or on complaint by any party, all forms of human rights violations, involving civil and political rights". This Commission is the successor to the Presidential Committee on Human Rights, which was created by the President on 16 March 1986 and which had similar powers. 209. In line with this stated policy the Philippines ratified a number of international instruments. Being a party since 7 June 1974 to the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, it ratified on 23 October 1986 the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and, on 22 August 1989, the Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights under which individuals have the right to bring a complaint about violations of the rights set forth in the Covenant before the Human Rights Committee established under the Covenant. It also ratified, on 18 June 1986, the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and, on 11 December 1986, Protocol II to the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the Humanitarian Laws of Warfare. Articles 4, 13, 14 and 15 of the 1984 Convention against Torture contain similar provisions as those mentioned in article III, Section 12, of the Constitution. Protocol II to the 1949 Geneva Conventions deals with situations of armed conflicts not of an international character and explicitly prohibits, inter alia, the use of torture. 210. The Philippines has known several insurgent movements for a considerable number of years. In the southern part of the country the Muslim National Liberation Front (MNLF) is trying to establish a separate Muslim state. Although the present Government granted autonomy to four provinces on the southern island of Mindanao, fighting has not stopped. Of far more importance is the insurgency by the New People's Army (NPA), the military wing of the