I-TEAM REPORT
Chief Justice: No magic bullet against assassins
By Leila Salaverria, Fernando del Mundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:22:00 05/12/2008
Read part 1: ‘Political killings not official but an unintended policy’
part 2: Rights workers' lament: We're treated like enemies of state
part 3: The ‘missing piece’ in gov’t anti-insurgency drive
(Last of four parts, Read part 1, part 2 and part 3)
Life has been a bit easier for Rowil Monasque—the first beneficiary of the writ of amparo—since he was freed from military detention in November last year.
What happened to Monasque, a leader of the leftist group Bayan Muna accused of being a New People’s Army guerrilla, is nothing more than a distant memory now.
Still, he remembers what it was like to be forced by soldiers to name communist sympathizers, to be hit with the butt of a gun, and threatened with gory tales of the fate of uncooperative people.
Relief for Monasque came when a Pagadian court directed the military to release him after his family invoked the judicial remedy intended to safeguard the life, liberty and security of victims or those under threat of extrajudicial killings and disappearances.
Yet his life has not returned to normal, says Monasque’s lawyer, Tirsendo Poloyapoy. “He had this experience with the military. That would continue to haunt him for long periods of time,” the lawyer said.
Since the adoption last October of the writ of amparo, less blood has been shed and fewer lives have been disrupted, says Chief Justice Reynato Puno.
But Puno rues that the preoccupation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with wiping out the decades-old communist insurgency by the end of her term in 2010 could fuel human rights violations.
“It may be unrealistic to set a tight timeline on the solution of this problem,” he says. “This is a problem that cannot be solved only by the strict use of military or police power.”
“If you know the means used would not be appropriate to the problem, then you will be faced by that problem of overkill. Then that could mean violations of the other rights of victims,” Puno says.
The insurgency has various causes and each should be addressed properly in order to come up with a lasting, genuine solution, he says.
“This is a problem that has deep social, political and economic roots and therefore should be holistically solved not only by military or police, but all the agencies of government, as well as by the NGOs with advocacies relevant to this problem. So when you have this kind of a mixture, it may not be proper and appropriate to set a time frame within which you can say that we will exterminate the problem,” the Chief Justice says.
Anti-subversion law
As for proposals to resurrect the anti-subversion law, Puno says such a statute will need a strong justification from the government so that it can withstand any constitutional challenge and will be socially acceptable.
“More than the legal dimension would be the sociological dimension. And this is addressed to the policy makers of government, more specifically the President and Congress,” he says.
“They have to determine whether on the basis of current empirical facts, whether on the basis of our experience, the revival of this anti-subversion law would serve the higher interest of the people. In other words, whether this could really help solve in a more enduring manner this particular problem of the campaign that has pestered us for so long a time.”
Puno believes there is a basis for the contention that the Armed Forces of the Philippines was behind the spate of killings and disappearances, which surged under the Arroyo administration.
“If you read the Melo Commission report, as well as the report of Mr. Philip Alston, as well as other reports of these various human rights groups, there may be some basis for that kind of a conclusion,” Puno says.
Killings part of anti-insurgency
Former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo earlier issued a report stating that majority of the victims were “leftist-activist-militants” and that those who had attacked them belonged to the military.
Alston, a United Nations special rapporteur who investigated political killings here, has issued a report saying the killings of Leftist activists were part of the military’s anti-insurgency campaign.
Puno is pinning his hopes on the writ of amparo—taken from the Spanish word amparar, which means “to protect”—to prevent and resolve the political killings and disappearances.
Taking effect only last Oct. 24, the writ of amparo came on the heels of a Supreme Court-led multisectoral summit held in July last year, aimed at coming up with solutions to stop the executions.
The writ could be invoked before the courts to seek the release of or protection for a person, or to compel government operatives to allow certain places to be inspected.
Under the writ, authorities could not resort to a simple denial when they are accused of involvement in killings and disappearances, and are required to take more action to solve these problems.
Remedy successfully used
“I should say that by and large, the remedy of the writ of amparo has been successfully used by our people,” Puno says. “You will note that these cases that are being filed by the victims of these killings and disappearances are old cases. These are cases that happened before the writ of amparo.
“I like to think that since the effectivity of the writ of amparo, its preventive purpose has been attained by the court. And that is why you hardly see a new case of extrajudicial killing or disappearance that is the subject of a writ of amparo. Perhaps one or two, but very clearly, the writ has prevented the occurrence of these killings and disappearances.”
Members of the military have usually been named respondents in amparo cases, but Puno thinks this would not hamper their counterinsurgency operations, or those of the police. He says that a person applying for a writ of amparo is required to ensure that allegations are verified and detailed. The petition should also narrate the actions taken by the petitioner. Failing to meet the requirements could lead to the dismissal of the case.
But aside from the rules weeding out flimsy cases, Puno thinks the writ of amparo could improve the image of the military and the police, and make operatives think twice about following unlawful orders.
Deterrent vs illegal orders
“Secondly, the positive aspect: With this writ of amparo, there will be reluctance on the part of the members of the military and the police to follow orders which are patently illegal. That is because if they follow these patently illegal orders, they will be included as respondents,” Puno says.
The rule in the amparo writ requiring public officials to hew to a high standard in carrying out their duties could improve the Armed Forces’ performance as well. Puno also notes that it is the military that has been given the “black eye” as a result of the killings and disappearances.
“There is now this duty, [which] I would like to think is being followed, to really be careful about the preparation of reports about the conduct of investigation of these cases of killings and disappearances. This way, this writ of amparo would really elevate the efficiency of our military and police officials,” he says.
Another remedy—the writ of habeas data—has been adopted to complement the writ of amparo. It is intended to protect people’s right to truth and compel authorities to produce, correct or delete information which they feel could compromise them.
Special courts
In March last year, the high court created 99 special courts to try cases involving politically motivated attacks but no cases were filed there. Puno says people apparently did not think that the special courts were enough to protect them. This was why he convened the summit, out of which came the view that the best way to address the problems was for the judiciary to come out with a new rule.
Not a cure-all
But Puno cautions against touting the writ of amparo as a cure-all—or a “magic bullet”—for politically motivated crimes.
He cites the recent petition of employees of the TV network ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. who sought a writ of amparo and of prohibition from the high court to the stop police from harassing them or threatening to arrest members of the media who are reporting on emergencies, like coups. No writ has been issued here so far.
Puno also refers to the decision of the Court of Appeals in the amparo petition of brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo. The two have accused the military of torturing and detaining them. They also have reported seeing two missing University of the Philippines students under the Armed Forces’ custody.
The appellate court has ruled that military personnel were among those involved in the brothers’ abduction and said that retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan knew that his men had arrested and detained the Manalos. Palparan has been tagged a “butcher” by militants who accuse him of leaving a bloody trail of slain activists in areas where he had been assigned.
The government has questioned the appellate court’s ruling in the Manalo amparo case before the high court.
“In due time, the (Supreme Court) itself will make a long decision on the merits of the case. We are doing that in order to establish or to start establishing a firm jurisprudence on the writ of amparo,” Puno says.
Whatever the tribunal does, the remedy is there for people like Monasque.
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