MANILA – For an environmental network, the Supreme Court (SC)’s denial of motion filed by military and police questioning the protective writs issued to enforced disappearance survivors Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, is a landmark ruling and a serious blow to the state agents.
“This decisive ruling is a victory for truth and justice, furthermore exposing the brazen tactics of state forces who abduct, harass, and terrorize those who dare defend the environment and fight for the rights of communities under attack,” Kalikasan said in a statement.
In the decision, SC denied the government’s motion for lack of merit, upholding the writs of amparo and habeas data given to Castro and Tamano, along with the Temporary Protection Order (TPO) against personnel of the 70th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, Philippine National Police (PNP), National Security Council (NSC), and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
The writ of amparo is a remedy available to persons whose right to life, liberty, and security is violated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act of omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity.
The writ of habeas data, on the other hand, is a remedy for when one’s right to privacy in life, liberty, or security is violated or threatened.
One of the notable grounds of the high court’s decision is the substantial evidence that Castro and Tamano presented, beyond what the court needs to decide on the issuance of protective writs.
The two survivors asserted that the threats to their lives, freedom, and security remain.
“While prima facie evidence is enough to issue the writ, the petitioners’ (Castro and Tamano) detailed and convincing account of abduction and coercion to sign false affidavits went beyond the minimum required and amounted to substantial evidence,” the court said in a press release.
In fact, the Municipal Trial Court of Plaridel Bulacan on June 4 dismissed grave oral defamation charges that the Department of Justice had recommended against Castro and Tamano.
Read: Court junks defamation case against 2 environmental defenders
“The decision also delivers a serious blow to the already crumbling facade of the state’s repressive apparatus, especially the NTF-ELCAC, a body that has never possessed legitimacy to begin with,” Kalikasan added.
Castro and Tamano were abducted in Orion, Bataan, on September 2, 2023, by armed men while the two were conducting research and assisting coastal communities in campaigns on the threats of reclamation projects.
They were forcibly disappeared for 17 days and the NTF-ELCAC later presented them as “surrendered rebels.”
The two activists, in a brave move while surrounded by government officials at a press conference, denied that they were rebels and exposed their abduction and torture by state agents.
Read: Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano’s fighting back
“The Supreme Court’s ruling further exposes the long-running modus operandi of state forces: abducting activists and civilians, then presenting them as fake ‘surrenderees’ to sustain the false narrative that defenders of communities are insurgents abandoning the armed movement,” Kalikasan said.
SC clarified that the issuance of writs is not a ruling on liability as they are not civil, criminal, or administrative in nature.
The establishment of responsibility and accountability is ruled upon the issuance of the privileges of the writs.
Castro and Tamano are challenging the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA), which denied the privilege if writs of amparo and habeas data. It will now be up to the SC to decide on granting these writs.
While the high court is hearing the case, the two activists will have the Temporary Protection Order as interim relief, prohibiting the implicated state agents from entering within a kilometer from Castro and Tamano and of their immediate family members, residences, school, and work addresses. (JDS)
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