Manila: The Philippines' independent rights body launched a probe into the national police amid public outrage over a cellphone video showing an officer torturing a naked man.
The graphic video, which ABS-CBN television said it obtained from an unidentified informant, shows the officer in civilian clothes beating the man with what appears to be a stick.
A rope appears to be tied to the victim's groin area, which the torturer yanks in between blows to the body.
"This is very disturbing. They treated him worse than an animal," said Coco Quisumbing, chairwoman of the country's Commission on Human Rights, who has reviewed the clip.
"This is the very first time that this happened [actual torture caught on video] and it is groundbreaking. "Police should now submit to our investigation in a timely manner," she said on ABS-CBN's radio affiliate.
National police chief Jesus Verzosa ordered all 20 officers assigned to the Asuncion police precinct in Manila's Tondo slum district suspended and investigated, police spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said.
"Task Group Asuncion... will conduct a thorough probe into the incident, which he (Verzosa) described as disgusting and totally unwarranted," Cruz told reporters.
"Such actions do not have any place in an organisation that espouses respect for human rights." Police will cooperate with other government offices conducting a parallel inquiry, Cruz, added.
While allegations of torture and extra-judicial killings carried out by the police and military are nothing new, Tuesday's airing of the video was the first time such an incident was shown on public television. ABS-CBN did not say when it took place, and the fate of the victim was unclear.
One of those who had closely reviewed the clip at the rights commission said she could hear the torturer berating the victim as a criminal.
Manila police commander Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay said the incident appeared to have taken place in a police station under his jurisdiction.
He confirmed that the torturer was a police officer who had since been relieved of his post and was now under investigation related to possible criminal charges. "There is no place for a policeman like that," he said.
