THE SUPREME COURT (SC) has denied lawmakers from the progressive Makabayan bloc protection from alleged state-sanctioned harassment.
SC Public Information Office Chief Theodore O. Te said in a briefing the petition for writ of amparo and habeas data by nine militant activists was dismissed for “lack of merit.”
The petitioners have cited their inclusion in the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group’s (CIDG) “rogues gallery,” which they claimed indicated they were subject to state surveillance in violation of their rights to life and liberty.
But the full court said they failed to show how their right to privacy was violated “given that the information contained in the rogues gallery is only their photographs, their names, and their position in their respective organizations.”
“All these data are of public knowledge, and are readily accessible to anyone as petitioners are known personalities,” read an excerpt of the decision reached during Tuesday’s en banc session.
Incumbent Representatives Carlos Isagani T. Zarate (Bayan Muna party-list) and Emerenciana A. de Jesus (Gabriela Women’s Party) as well as former representatives Rafael V. Mariano (Anakpawis) and Teodoro A. Casiño (Bayan Muna) led the petitioners.
Other petitioners were Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay, Sr., Mary Francis Añover of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, Rev. Irma M. Balaba of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines, Children’s Rehabilitation Center executive director Jacquiline Ruiz, and the family of the late activist and labor leader Crispin B. Beltran.
They said they have been subject to trumped-up charges for taking up the rights of Mindanao’s lumad (indigenous peoples) evacuees in Davao City, who fled their homes in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, to escape militarization and paramilitary harassment.
The respondents were President Benigno S. C. Aquino III, Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin, Gen. Hernando Delfin Carmelo A. Iriberri, AFP Deputy Commander for Intelligence Maj. Gen. Virgilio A. Hernandez, Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP) Chief Brig. Gen. Arnold M. Quiapo, Philippine Army Commanding General Maj. Gen. Eduardo M. Año, AFP Deputy Commanding General for Personnel Brig. Gen. Honorato S. delos Reyes, Philippine National Police Director Ricardo C. Marquez, and PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Director Chief Supt. Victor P. Deona.
Also impleaded were the following Mindanao military and police authorities: Eastern Mindanao Command Commanding General Lt. Gen. Aurelio B. Baladad, 60th Infantry Division Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Roberto Bunagan, Eastern Mindanao CIDG Regional Director Police Senior Supt. Joel C. Pernito, Davao City Criminal Investigation Division Team Leader Police Chief Insp. Warren E. Dablo, and several John Does and Jane Does.
Although the activists in the rejected petition failed in their request for court protection, the SC had previously granted the writ of amparo to 22 union leaders on Aug. 4, and to 11 activists from health workers and youth groups on Sept. 8. -- Vince Alvic Alexis F. Nonato
source: Businessworld
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