The Philippines’ House of Representatives has ratified a bill which would criminalise enforced disappearances, which have been mostly sanctioned by the government.

The new law will come into force Presdient Aquino signs the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012, which would make the Philippines the first Asian country to enact such a law.

"The occurrence of enforced or involuntary disappearance and the impunity of offenders who are agents of the State are now finally consigned to the past," Representative Edcel Lagman said, according to Interaksyon.

"The same obtained Congressional approval on 20 September 2012, a day before the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law an era when enforced disappearance was an atrocious tool of the martial law regime to silence protesters and human rights madvocates," Lagman, one of the principal authors of the bill, said.

Hundreds of Filipinos disappeared during the Martial Law period, with disappearances still occurring today.

See below for some of the important features of the bill:

• No war or any public emergency can justify the suspension of the enforcement of the anti-disappearance law
• Command responsibility makes a superior officer also culpable for violations of the law by subordinates
• Subordinates are authorised to defy unlawful orders of superiors for the commission of enforced disappearance
• A periodically updated registry of all detained persons is required in all detention centers
• Secret detention facilities are prohibited
• Human Rights organisations shall participate in the crafting of the necessary Implementing Rules and Regulations