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By Nora O. Gamolo, Senior Desk Editor
Editor’s note: The first part reported on
the recent successful writ of amparo cases. This installment
discusses the petitions pending in court.
Last of two parts
The case of two missing University of the
Philippines students, Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, is the
first petition for the writ of amparo filed at the Court of Appeals.
The appellate court had earlier dismissed the petition for a writ of
habeas corpus for the alleged military perpetrators to release Empeño,
Cadapan and farmer Manuel Merino, who was with the students when
they were abducted in Bulacan in June 2006.
A petition for a writ of amparo was filed at the
Supreme Court, which granted the petition and remanded the case back
to the Court of Appeals.
During the last hearing in early November, Atty.
Rex Fernandez, counsel for the families of the two missing students,
moved for a motion to present new witnesses and evidence to prove
that the disappeared trio was in military custody.
His motion, however, was blocked by Assistant
Solicitor Amparo Tang, but the appellate court ruled that the new
witnesses and new evidence will be presented in the next hearing on
November 21.
Fernandez decried that this case filed first in
February had been dragging for months, saying that cases of this
nature should be resolved immediately to prevent any harm or injury
to the victims.
He expressed apprehensions that some harm had
already befallen the three, what with a continuous stream of reports
of dead bodies alleged to be theirs cropping up.
Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo
To date, at least three other cases have been
submitted to the court for resolution. The Supreme Court issued
another writ of amparo by ordering Appeals Justice Lucas Bersamin to
conduct a summary hearing on a petition concerning brothers Raymond
and Reynaldo Manalo who were allegedly abducted by the military in
Pangasinan. The case reached the High Court after the Court of
Appeals junked the petition for habeas corpus filed in hopes of
having the Manalo brothers.
The brothers are out and are now in the custody
of their lawyer. They claim they were detained for several months
without formal charges.
The Manalo brothers are also respondents in the
case of the two missing UP students, since they have executed
affidavits that they have seen the two in Pangasinan.
Leni and Romulus Robiños
Petitions for a writ of amparo were also
submitted to the Supreme Court for the case of siblings Leni and
Romulus Robiños. Romulus was allegedly abducted on November 17,
2006, by elements of the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion in Angeles
City who were really after Leni.
Now marking his first year of disappearance,
Romulus himself an activist.
A temporary protection order was already
released in favor of Leni, while Romulus, who’s married and has
two children, is still counted as a case of disappearance.
His family joined a tree-planting activity in
Quezon Memorial Circle last Saturday to mark his first year of
disappearance, joined by the families of the others who also
disappeared.
Evangeline Hernandez, chairman of the human
rights group Hustisya, said, “Robiño’s case clearly
demonstrates how the Arroyo regime, through its anti-insurgency
program Oplan Bantay Laya 1and 2, unlawfully targets not only
members of militant organizations, but also their family members.”
The Robiños family are hoping to file their
writ of amparo at the Supreme Court on November 14.
To be filed: Juliet Fernandez
Human rights advocates are now working doubly
hard to bring other cases to court. The women’s organization
Gabriela is working for a fuller documentation of the case of Juliet
Fernandez who was allegedly abducted by the Army’s 62nd Infantry
Battalion in Samar last May 11.
Juliet is assumed to be the 29th woman victim of
“enforced disappearance” since Mrs. Gloria Arroyo became
president in 2001.
Last October, while a picket was held,
Juliet’s Gabriela-based friends met with the Armed Forces of the
Philippines. While the officers said they never received reports
that Juliet was apprehended by any of their men, they also promised
to look into her disappearance.
To be filed: Leo Velasco
Former National Democratic Front consultant Leo
Velasco was abducted early this year in Cagayan de Oro, Misamis
Oriental. His family is thinking of filing a petition for a writ of
amparo and is readying all the necessary documents. However, the
human rights defender working on his case has been harassed,
snagging all research and documentation work needed to file a
petition at the moment.
Preparing to file: Burgos family
Preparing to file an amparo petition is the
Burgos family for Jonas Joseph Burgos, the agriculturist-son of the
late press freedom icon Jose G. Burgos Jr. Jonas was abducted from a
Quezon City mall on April 28.
Edita Burgos, his mother, said, “We didn’t
file a petition for a writ of amparo immediately so as not to
compromise other legal processes that we have already initiated.”
The Burgos family charge that the military was
involved, noting that one of the vehicles used in the kidnapping had
carried the plates of a jeep impounded by the Army, based on a
police investigation. The military blamed the communists for the
disappearance.
In a petition for habeas corpus filed before the
Supreme Court introduced the write of amparo into the Philippine
judicial system, the Burgoses were finally given the military’s
declassified report on its internal investigation into the license
plate of the vehicle allegedly used in the abduction.
However, the copy given to the Burgos family
lacks the affidavits of 16 soldiers implicated in the alleged
abduction.
The Court of Appeals, which is hearing the
Burgos case, has declared that it needs more time to study the
declassified report and determine if there is any need to subpoena
the missing affidavits.
The family is now reported to be preparing to
use the writ of amparo to get the data in the soldiers’ affidavits
and inspect places where Jonas was reportedly seen, as well as to
have the court order the military to produce him. His mother refuses
to believe that Jonas has been killed, saying that what she has been
getting is “proof of life,” rather than proof of her son’s
death.
Seeking other relief measures
Human rights advocates do not rely purely on
court processes, but are working on other measures to bring relief
to the victims.
“The Philippines is a signatory to the
Convention Against Torture, but this hasn’t been ratified in the
Philippines. Also, the country has not yet submitted a report on its
compliance with this convention,” said Jigs Clamor, Karapatan
secretary-general, who added his organization is lobbying for the
Senate to ratify this international legal document.
“This is a test case to check if the
government is sincere in resolving cases of human rights
violations,” Clamor said.
All cases of disappearances and torture will be
brought to the United Nations Human Rights Council, and the
France-based Organization against Torture, of which Karapatan is a
member.
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