The Court of Appeals has turned down the petition of three militant groups to issue a protection order against the government which has been accused of harassing their members, including the conduct of arrests and killings due to their alleged affiliation with communist rebels.
In a 23-page decision dated June 28, the CA 14th Division denied the petition of Karapatan Alliance Philippines Inc., the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines Inc., and the General Assembly of Women for Reforms, Integrity, Equality, Leadership, and Action Inc. which sought the issuance of Writs of Amparo and Habeas Data.
The Appelate court which conducted hearings over the petition pursuant to the directive of the Supreme Court pointed out “the petition and the documents submitted did not fulfill the evidentiary standard to establish that petitioners’ right to life, liberty, security, and privacy were violated or threatened by the respondents.”
“There is no evidence of the extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, malicious prosecutions, and defamations,” read the decision penned by Associate Justice Mario Lopez and concurred in by Associate Justices Zenaida Galapate-Laguilles and Tita Marilyn Payoyo-Villordon.
The petition impleaded President Duterte and several officials in the Office of the President, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Department of National Defense, and the Philippine National Police for allegedly violating and threatening the petitioners’ rights to life, liberty, security, and privacy with acts of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, malicious prosecutions, and defamations because of their advocacy in various fields of human rights work. (Jeffrey Damicog)
