SC grants amparo, habeas data pleas; CA tasked to tackle govt surveillance

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a request from activist organizations for writs of amparo and habeas data against surveillance the government is allegedly conducting on them.

 

Petitioners are officers and members of Confederation for the Unity, Recognition, and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), as well as members of SALINLAHI and the Children's Rehabilitation Center (CRC), who have claimed harassment and surveillance by operatives of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

 

"The court noted that the material allegations of the petition show that the petitioners are entitled to the protection of the writs of amparo and habeas data," said SC Public Information Office chief and spokesman Theodore Te in a briefing.

 

A writ of amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, and security is violated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission.

 

A writ of habeas data, meanwhile, is a legal remedy available to any person whose right to privacy in life, liberty or security is violated. It grants the petitioner a chance to question the data and to seek for its “updating, rectification, or destruction.”

 

As a result of the issuance of the writs, the petition was forwarded to the Court of Appeals for "immediate raffle and conduct of summary hearing."

 

The SC gave the CA 30 days to decide on the case and required the respondents to submit their "verified return to the writs" and to comment on the petition within the same period within 15 days from notice.

 

Named respondents were President Benigno Aquino III, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri, former Philippine National Police officer in charge Director Leonardo Espina, among others.

 

Petitioners claimed they have been subjected in varying degrees to threats and harassment from people who claimed to either be policemen or soldiers.

 

They said the possession of data and information that had been obtained by the military and the police from their surveillance was a violation of their right to privacy and negate the constitutionally protected and inviolable right of every person to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects.

 

Petitioners alleged they were being singled out by the military and police because of their organizational affiliation with the New People’s Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines.

 

They also said that in many instances, they were told that their activities were anti-government and illegal, and that they should cooperate with the military.

 

COURAGE is an umbrella organization of public sector unions in the Philippines.

 

SALINLAHI is a nationalist alliance promoting children’s rights and child empowerment.

 

CRC, meanwhile, is a non-government institution serving children and their families who are victims of state violence.

 

The petitioners said it would not be “remote” that the surveillance being conducted on them would later on result in their abductions or killings.

 

The group asked the high court to issue a writ of habeas data requiring the respondents to disclose and provide copies of documents, records, and photos in their possession pertaining to each of the petitioners.

 

These documents should be destroyed, the petitioners said.  —ELR/KG, GMA News