SC reviews remedies for victims of rights violations

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The Supreme Court has taken steps to ensure that ample legal remedies are available to victims of human rights violations and their relatives, as President Duterte presses his brutal war on drugs, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said on Thursday.

But as bodies pile up, the judiciary feels it has not done enough.

“Perhaps the question is, Can the courts do more? Because of the specific sequence in which actions can be taken, we find ourselves stymied in the fact that we cannot do investigations,” Sereno told journalists in Cebu City.

“We are very sensitive to the fact that the Constitution places primary importance to the rights of the citizens. But the limitations remain. That’s why we are in the process of trying to evaluate what else can be done,” she said.

Sereno, who is facing two impeachment complaints in the House of Representatives, held her annual “Meet the Press” event outside of Metro Manila for the first time since her appointment as Chief Justice in 2012.

Fielding questions from reporters, she said a special committee led by Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang had been created to look into the adequacy of existing writs that may be invoked by people seeking court protection.

“The basic question I posed to this committee is, Are the present writs sufficient to uphold the constitutional rights of our citizens?” Sereno said. “This question has bothered me for quite some time now.”

She added: “Of course, it is our duty to do what we can. So how do we account for the number of violent deaths that are being seen right now? The problem is we have a Constitution that places the judiciary at the end of a process.”

Sereno also raised concern over the recent killings of reporters and correspondents and the threats against journalists in the Philippines, regarded by international human rights groups as one of the most dangerous places in the world for people from the press.

Sereno, whose public statements against the spiraling drug killings have put her in the President’s cross hairs, lamented that the constitutional boundaries on the judiciary’s authority has limited its actions in dealing with extrajudicial killings.

Since Mr. Duterte launched his fierce crackdown on illegal drugs, Sereno said, the 15-member Supreme Court has issued only two writs of amparo to a survivor and relatives of victims of extrajudicial killings.

One of the petitioners was Efren Murillo, a vegetable vendor who narrowly escaped death when officers from the Quezon City Police District raided the impoverished community of Payatas for drugs on Aug. 21 last year.