“It is high time to amend the Supreme Court rules on the 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.”
Thus said Karapatan, as the human rights alliance expressed support for Cordillera activists today, in their filing for a petition for review on certiorari before the high court, on their petition for the writ of amparo which was earlier dismissed by the Court of the Appeals.
The 24 petitioners, which include Joanna Carino, Windel Bolinget and abduction survivor Stephen Tauli, sought the SC’s reversal of the CA’s 17th Division’s decision junking of their petition for legal protection from threats to their lives, security and liberty.
“There have been many occasions that the courts dismissed petitions on the writ of amparo of those who have clear threats on their life, security and liberty. This runs counter to the objective of these legal remedies to provide protection for persons who are under threat, and has suffered more than enough harassment, vilification and red-tagging from state security forces,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.
Karapatan cited the following cases of individuals and organizations, among many others, whose petitions were denied:
• Members of Karapatan, Gabriela and Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) also filed for a petition for the writs of amparo and habeas data on May 6, 2019, but was denied by the CA 14th Division on June 28, 2019. In a few days, then National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. filed malicious and retaliatory charges of perjury against officials of the three organizations. The perjury case was dismissed on January 9, 2023.
Karapatan Sorsogon paralegal Ryan Hubilla was killed while the petition was pending before the CA, followed by the abduction and enforced disappearance of former Karapatan Southern Mindanao secretary general Honey Mae Suazo. A year after the filing of the petition, Karapatan human rights worker Zara Alvarez was killed in Bacolod City, and two other Karapatan human rights workers in Bicol were killed. Its human rights workers Alexander Philip Abinguna, Teresita Naul, Renalyn Tejero, Nimfa Lanzanas and Jennefer Aguhob were all arbitrarily arrested and detained, its leaders Elisa Tita Lubi, Jayvee Apiag and Jackie Mariano faced trumped up charges. Former Karapatan human rights worker Dr. Naty Castro was also arrested and detained, and after her release was arbitrarily designated as a terrorist individual. Prior to these incidents, the victims have been redtagged, illegally surveilled and had faced several threats, including death and rape threats.
Karapatan’s petition for review on the CA decision remains pending at the SC.
• The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, an organization of lawyers representing victims of rights violations, also filed a petition for writ of amparo on May 3, 2019 due to continuous red-tagging against its members. The Supreme Court granted the petition, but was denied by the CA 15th Division on July 11 the same year.
• In previous years, petitions for the writ of amparo and habeas data were also filed by members of organizations COURAGE (Confederation for the Unity, Recognition, and Advancement of Government Employees) citing incidents of harassment and red-tagging against their members. After the CA’s dismissal of their petition, four of their organizers and officers – Rowena and Oliver Rosales, Juan Alexander Reyes and Antonieta Dizon – were all arbitrarily arrested on trumped up charges and they remain in jail to this day.
• Fr. Edwin Egar, human rights worker in Southern Tagalog, pastor of the United Church in the Philippines who, along with his wife, also a pastor, Rev. Julieta Egar and Ronald Ramos, a former barangay captain, filed for a petition for writ of amparo on November 28, 2022, due to relentless red-tagging against them by elements of the Philippine Army. Their petition was denied by the CA recently.
• Former Bayan Muna representative Siegfred Deduro filed for a petition for writ of amparo on October 22, 2020, after the military publicly red-tagged and alleged him as a high-ranking officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army. His petition was filed in the midst of the widespread red-tagging in Panay, and months after the killing of another red-tagged leader of Bayan Muna in Iloilo, Jory Porquia. The petition was denied on October 30, 2020, with the courts saying there are no threats to his life and security. Deduro continues to fear for his life, amidst the killings, harassment and threats against activists, especially in the Panay and Negros regions.
“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.
Palabay underscored that a number of victims who were granted the writ of amparo remain missing to this day, including 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.
Noriel Rodriguez, Raymond Manalo and his brother were granted the writ of amparo, after suffering from abduction and torture during the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. However, they continued to experience surveillance from military agents, even after their writ was granted.
Palabay explained that even if the writ of amparo was granted in favor of the victims, this does not mean that they are already safe from any threats to their life and security, especially amidst the continuous red-tagging of the government, made more systematic under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
“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. #