Court issues protective writ for two missing labor organizers
MANILA, Philippines (Updated: September 10, 9:36 a.m.) — The Court of Appeals has ordered the military to investigate the case and locate two labor organizers, who have gone missing and are allegedly being kept inside their camp, as it issued a protective writ for the two.
The CA Fifth Division issued the privilege of the Writ of Amparo in favor of Elizabeth Magbanua and Alipio Juat, who went missing early in May. It also issued a Permanent Protection Order for the petitioners and their immediate family.
The writ of amparo is a protection extended to petitioners when threats to their life, liberty and security emanate from the military, police and other state security forces. It covers extralegal killings and enforced disappearances or threats thereof.
The court also said it orders that "without any specific pronouncement on exact authorship and responsibility, declaring the respondents accountable for the enforced disappearance and continued disappearance" of the two activists.
Named as respondents are armed forces chief Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro, Department of National Defense Officer-in-Charge Jose Faustino Jr., National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Director General Ricardo de Leon and five military officials.
The military officers among the respondents are also directed to conduct a speedy, comprehensive and exhaustive investigation into the continued disappearance of Magbanua and Juat.
"Respondents are likewise directed to utilize all technical and modern technological resources at its disposal to assist in locating their whereabouts and once and for all determine the truth behind their continued disappearance," the CA said.
The military are also ordered to submit a detailed report on the results of their action within six months from receipt of the decision. Failure to comply shall constitute contempt of court, the CA added.
Associate Justice Ronaldo Roberto Martin penned the ruling, with concurrences from Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas Jr. and Alfonso Ruiz II.
The petition
Magbanua and Juat are community organizers for labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno.
Their families ran to the Supreme Court on August 10—three months since the activists went missing—to ask for the issuance of a writ of amparo, which the tribunal issued on August 23. The SC also ordered the CA to hear their plea.
In their petition, the families of Magbanua and Juat said the two had been incommunicado for days after a meeting with workers in Valenzuela on May 3, prompting KMU to launch fact-finding missions to try to find them.
Juat's daughter, a petitioner for the writ, said she was able to talk to her father when he visited another daughter. Marielle. She learned then that her father and Magbanua had been abducted on May 3. He also allegedly told Marielle that he has been staying at Camp Aguinaldo, the military headquarters in Quezon City.
Meanwhile, Magbanua has been incommunicado since May 3.
"Respondents and their agents and others acting on their behalf evidently violated and continue to violate the rights to life, liberty and security of [Juat and Magbanua]," the petitioners told the SC.
The petitioners also contended that even if Juat was able to visit his daughter and talk to his family do "not mean his right of liberty has not been violated and is continuously being violated" since he may be under duress.
"The fact remains that [they] are victims of enforced disappearance," petitioners said.
The CA's ruling
“Here, petitioners proved by substantial evidence that Loi and Ador are victims of enforced disappearance themselves. Their continued disappearance without any trace but having been last heard of from a military facility justify the issuance of the privilege of the writ of amparo,” the CA said.
The CA stressed that the Armed Forces of the Philippines “is the protector of the people and the State.”
“The totality of petitioner’s evidence indicate that [Magbanua and Juat] are at the present time victims of enforced disappearance themselves. [Magbanua and Juat] were abducted and detained apparently by State forces, especially since [Juat] had relayed to Marielle that he is being detained at the AFP,” the CA said.
The CA also pointed out that the abduction or restriction within a State facility of Magbanua and Juat was “followed with authorities’ callous refusal to give information on their fate or whereabouts and at the very least, provide technical assistance in locating” the two labor organizers.
The Court reiterates that public officials have the mandate to protect citizens, but a review of the return of the Writ of Amparo only showed general denials.
“Respondents must be held to a higher level of accountability because of their inaction bordering on indifference. If respondents had truly ordered their subordinates to conduct positive action but these subordinates ignored or disregarded their directives, as is obviously the case, then respondents must all the more be held accountable,” the CA said.
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