Progressive solons seek SC protection from police, military

Former and incumbent lawmakers under the Makabayan bloc on Friday asked the Supreme Court to issue writs of amparo and habeas data against alleged military and police harassment.

In a 37-page plea, the petitioners said the civil society organizations to which they belong have been tagged by the government forces as "communist front organizations" while their leaders and members have been targets of attack under the government's counterinsurgency programs.

Among the petitioners were Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Emerenciana de Jesus, former Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, former Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, Cristina Palabay, Mary Francis Anover, Irma Balaba, Jacquiline Ruiz, as well as the heirs of former Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, represented by Ofelia Beltran-Balleta.

Named respondents were President Benigno Aquino III, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri, and other officials of the military and the Philippine National Police.

To back their claims of harassment, killings, and abduction of their members, the petitioners cited  the findings of Prof. Philip Alston, the former United Nations Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Execution, in his Report to the UN Human Rights Council on his February 2007 Mission to the Philippines.

The petitioners said the inclusion of their names on the lists and pictures in the police’s “rogues gallery” provided to them by the local PNP Criminal Investigation Group was considered threats to their life, liberty and security.

"There is no other way by which these information can be obtained than by subjecting the petitioners under undue and malicious scrutiny or surveillance,” read the petition.

The petitioners said their lives and security were threatened when the military falsely claimed they were among those responsible for the “manipulation and detention" of Lumad in UCCP Haran.

The petitioner decried the eventual filing of alleged “trumped up and fabricated"charges against them for serious illegal detention, child abuse, kidnapping and murder.

"Recent events show the persisting scheme by the military and the police of threatening and harassing members of progressive  organizations – human rights advocates and defenders, political   activists, union and peasant organizers, and militant legislators – in   the name of counterinsurgency,” read the petition.

Apart from a writ of amparo, the petitioners sought the issuance of a writ of habeas data to compel the respondents to disclose and provide them copies of documents and photos pertaining to them. They said these documents should be destroyed.

The petitioners also want the SC to issue a temporary protection order for the protection of the petitioners and their family.

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.” —KBK, GMA News