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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the
petition of businessman Jose de Venecia 3rd for the issuance of the
writ of habeas data to put a stop to the military’s alleged
invasion on his right to privacy.
De Venecia’s petition now goes to the Court of
Appeals, which will hear his petition. The hearing was set on April
10.
In an en banc resolution, the High Tribunal also
asked the respondents to make a verified return of the writ of
habeas data before the appellate court within five working days from
the serving of the writ.
De Venecia, owner of Amsterdam Holdings Inc.,
the losing bidder in the scrapped broadband network project of the
government, named as respondents in his petition ranking officers of
the Armed Forces, Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, Philippine National Police, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and
former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr.
In his 17-page petition, De Venecia asked the
High Court to order the respondents “to produce all materials,
including recordings and transcriptions thereof, in their possession
obtained through their wiretapping activities on petitioner’s
private communication.”
Wiretapped conversation with Abalos
De Venecia filed the petition after records of
his conversations with broadband star witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and
Abalos were posted on the internet.
He also asked the High Tribunal to stop Enrile
from airing his alleged wiretapped conversation. Enrile, during a
Senate hearing, brought out the issue of the wiretapped
conversation, threatening to publicly broadcast the supposed
conversation.
“Respondent Senator Enrile violated
petitioner’s constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy of
communication and correspondence when he divulged what he believed
to be conversations between petitioner and other persons culled from
illegal tape recording. Petitioner never gave his consent to anyone
to record any of his telephone conversations with any person,” De
Venecia said in his petition.
He said the acts of Enrile constitute a
violation of Republic Act No. 4200 or the Anti-Wiretapping Act.
De Venecia explained that Enrile has
categorically admitted in the course of the Senate investigation on
the broadband deal last March 11that he is in possession of the
purported “tape” recording of the supposed conversations.
He likewise asked the High Court to order the
respondents to cease their alleged harassment and surveillance
activities.
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