2 environmental activists file motion after dismissal of petition in CA

Cristina “Tinay” Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan. (Photo from her Facebook page)

MANILA, Philippines — The two environmental activists filed a motion for reconsideration before the Court of Appeals (CA) after the appellate court’s dismissal of their petition for writ of amparo and habeas data against government forces.

Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay told INQUIRER.net in a message on X (formerly Twitter) Tuesday that the camp of Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano filed the motion on Monday.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Palabay also said the CA’s former Special 8th Division “disregarded the basic rights” of Castro and Tamano “in dismissing their plea for legal protection via their petition for the privilege of the writ of amparo and habeas data.”

READ: CA junks amparo, habeas data suits vs NTF-Elcac

“We are appalled and we are indignant for Jonila and Jhed, and all victims of enforced disappearance and fake or forced surrenders,” she also said.

Castro and Tamano, who was previously missing, revealed to the anticommunist taskforce press conference that they were abducted by government forces.

“The CA division also seemingly gave the State perpetrators a free pass – by failing to conduct extraordinary due diligence via an investigation on the abduction and enforced disappearance of Jhed and Jonila – as we see in what many courts have done in the past,” Palabay said.

“This is the kind of court decisions that perpetuate the seemingly never-ending cycle of impunity in the country,” she added.