Chief Justice says Writ of Amparo ready by September

By Ronron
August 17, 2007

Supreme Court (SC) chief justice Reynato Puno said Friday that the proposed Writ of Amparo, which is described as tougher than the Writ of Habeas Corpus for cases of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, is expected to be out next month.

The new Writ of Amparo is an aftermath of the national summit on extrajudicial killings sponsored by the SC last month.

“We hope to finish this Writ of Amparo, the new remedy, by next months time… This is the new remedy that will be crafted by the Supreme Court in order to address this problem of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances,” Puno said in an interview at Camp Crame.

“The Committee on the Revision on the Rules of Court of the Supreme Court has already met two times. And today, at 2pm, we are meeting for the third time,” he said.

Puno disclosed that the first draft of the Writ of Amparo is already available, but its final version is expected to be released by September.

“Under this new Writ of Amparo, it will not be enough for the State authorities, the State agents to deny that they have the body or the custody of the victims. This is the usual defense that is forwarded by the State authorities whenever victims file this petition for writ of habeas corpus,” Puno explained.

“And in a lot of instances, they are able to get away with it. Now, with this new Writ of Amparo, that defense will no longer be available,” he added.

According to Puno, agents of the government will be forced by the court to do something to locate the victim, and their activity will be monitored closely by the court.

Also, the Writ of Amparo will provide more remedies to victims or aggrieved parties, “like better witness protection, temporary protection orders, right to habeas data (an exercise to right to information,” and others, said Puno.

“In other words, if you have this right, it would be very very difficult for State agents, State authorities to be able to escape from their culpability,” he said.

Puno said the Writ of Amparo will set up a standard for the authorities to follow, which, if not complied with, can be met with “proper relieves” coming from the court.

Asked if the Writ of Amparo will be retroactive, considering that there are a number of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances cases in the last few years, especially since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed power in 2001, Puno said: “That will be subject to the approval of the members of the court. But there is no legal impediment to making the new rule retroactive.”

According to him, “remedial measures, as a general proposition, can be made retroactive without violating any Constitutional provision.”

The Philippine National Police (PNP) Task Force USIG has recorded over 100 cases of killings of militants and over 20 journalists’ killings in the country since 2001, a far low from close to 900 cases recorded by human rights group Karapatan.

The SC-sponsored national summit was held last July 16 and 17./DMS