Rights group pushes for amendments to protective writ

In a statement, Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said that there have been many occasions that the courts dismissed writ of amparo petitions despite clear threats on their life, security and liberty.

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

Human rights group Karapatan said it high time to amend the rule on writ of amparo, “after several attempts to avail of the remedy have left embattled human rights defenders and victims of human rights more vulnerable to threats to their lives, security and liberty, amidst an already bleak state of human rights in the country.”

A writ of amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, and security has been violated or is threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity.

“This runs counter to the objective of these legal remedies to provide protection for persons who are under threat, and have suffered more than enough harassment, vilification and red-tagging from state security forces,” she said.

Karapatan issued the call following the filing of petition for review on certiorari by activists in Cordillera on Monday, June 19.

Read: Cordillera activists turn to SC for protection

Palabay also cited their petition, along with members of Gabriela and Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, for writs of amparo and habeas data on May 6, 2019 which was denied by the CA 14th Division on June 28, 2019. A few days later, then National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. filed perjury charges against officials of the three organizations.

The perjury case was dismissed last January 9, 2023.

Read: Quezon City court acquits human rights defenders of perjury charges

Meanwhile, Karapatan’s petition for review on the CA decision remains pending at the SC.

One of the petitioners Zara Alvarez, a human rights worker in Negros, was killed by suspected state security forces on August 17, 2029.

The CA also did not grant the writ of amparo petition filed by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) in 2019. The CA 15th Division junked its petition also in July 2019 saying that there is “no substantial evidence of alleged violations, or threats of violations of rights to life, liberty and security.”

The lawyers group appealed the decision and is still waiting for the SC to resolve their plea.

Palabay also cited the junked petitions for protection filed by government unions federation COURAGE, human rights worker and pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines Fr. Edwin Egar, and former Bayan Muna representative Siegfred Deduro by the CA.

“These writs were supposed to be preventive mechanisms to address the killings and disappearances of activists, but they have ceased to become a remedy for immediate legal protection of victims under threat and many have become more vulnerable to attacks by state security forces with impunity and without respect to due process. Lamentably, they have been rendered ineffective,” Palabay said.

She added that even victims who were granted the writ of amparo remain missing. This include University of the Philippines students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, tricycle driver Romulos Robinos, all disappeared in 2006; and activists Elizabeth Magbanua, Ma. Elena Pampoza, and Elgene Mungcal who were abducted in 2022.

Those who were also granted like Noriel Rodriguez, Raymond Manalo and his brother also continued to experience surveillance from military agents.

“Threats and harassment continue to this day, and rights violations continue to rise. This seeming failure using the writ of amparo is reflective of how domestic mechanisms remain in favor of the prevailing policies of the government, in its own state-sponsored terror and repression against those who are critical and vocal in opposing such policies,” Palabay said. (RTS, RVO)