Lawyers say amparo opens door to human rights awareness
Inquirer
First Posted 20:02:00 12/09/2007
Filed Under: Human Rights
BAGUIO CITY, Philippines--More than a month since guidelines for the application of the writ of amparo have been released, awareness of the country's human rights situation and of the rights of victims has improved, lawyers said.
"There is more awareness of the human rights situation [in the country] and some sort of encouragement on the part of the government to take human rights seriously," said Judge Cleto Villacorta III, founding member of the Counsels for the Defense of Civil Liberties (Codal).
In a forum on the writ of amparo at the Saint Louis Center Hall here on Dec. 4, Villacorta said other human rights lawyers are also discussing the use of the writ against the government after United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston linked the Armed Forces of the Philippines to human rights violations and extrajudicial killings in the country.
Villacorta said lawyers could initiate a petition for the writ to compel the government to stop any campaign or program that might violate human rights. One of these campaigns is the Oplan Bantay Laya, the government's antiinsurgency program, he said.
The writ of amparo is the latest remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty and security has been violated or is threatened by an unlawful act by public officials or employees and by private individuals or groups.
It was promulgated following the recommendation from the national consultative summit on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances called by Chief Justice Reynato Puno in July.
Villacorta, a founding member of the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), said that under the writ, the government would be compelled to act to improve the human rights situation.
"What we try to do is to see how restrictive this law is. We are trying to see if the provisions could be extended to include the government in the writ, because in the Alston report, it only [identified] a government institution and not certain individuals," he said.
The writ has yet to bear results in finding missing activist Jonas Burgos and University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.
"The writ will not stop the violations, but it may help improve the human rights situation [in the country]," Villacorta said.
"There should be a continuing documentation of human rights violations. The writ gives us hope but it will not solve all the problems. We should continue to assert our rights," said lawyer Randy Kinaud, secretary general of Cordillera Human Rights Alliance.
Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon
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