The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday, Aug. 23, issued a Writ of Amparo in favor of two Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) volunteers who have been missing since May 3 after attending a meeting in Valenzuela City.
In a resolution issued during its full court session, the SC also granted the plea for temporary protection order (TPO) in favor of KMU volunteers Elizabeth “Loi” Magbanua and Alipio “Ador” Juat, and members of their immediate families.
The TPO prohibits the respondents in the petition – Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro and other senior military officers, and retired Gen. Ricardo F. De Leon, officer-in-charge of the Department of National Defense (DND) – “from going within a radius of one (1) kilometer of the petitioners and their immediate family.”
Writ of Amparo (a Spanish word that means protection) “is a special writ to protect or enforce a constitutional right other than physical liberty.” The rules on the Writ of Amparo were approved by the SC in September 2007.
While the SC granted the TPO sought in the petition, the press statement issued by the SC’s public information office (PIO) was silent on the petitioners’ plea for inspection order.
A copy of the resolution that contained the writ was not immediately available, the PIO said.
The PIO said the petition was referred by the SC to the Court of Appeals (CA) which was ordered to hear the case on Aug. 30 and to resolve the issue 10 days after its submission for decision.
The respondents in the petition were ordered to file with the CA their comments within 72 hours from receipt of the notice.
The joint petition was filed for Loi by her niece Alyssa Marie Condez Magbanua and her long-time partner Ruth H. Maglalan. For Ador, the petition was filed by his eldest daughter Maureen T. Juat.
They were assisted by lawyer Minerva F. Lopez of the Gabriela Legal Services and lawyer Armando C. Teodoro Jr. of the Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center.
They pleaded the SC to issue an inspection order because they believed that their relatives have been arrested by the military and detained in a military camp, either at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City or Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
The SC was told that at the time of Loi’s disappearance, she is a volunteer and community organizer for KMU.
Ador, on the other hand, is a veteran activist. The SC was also told that both Loi and Ador were engaged in community organizing work in Tondo, Manila.
The petitioners said that have gone to various police precincts and hospitals to look for Loi and Ador and failed to locate them.
Thus, they petitioned the SC to compel the military to allow them to inspect Camp Aguinaldo and Fort Magsaysay where their kins are reportedly detained.
The SC had ruled that persons whose rights to life, liberty and security are threatened by law enforcers, their proper remedy before the courts is to file a petition for a Writ of Amparo.