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Rights lawyers: CA rejection of protection petition disturbing

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Human rights lawyers criticized an appellate court’s decision junking a protection petition by two environmental activists abducted by the Philippine Army (PA) last year.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said the Court of Appeals (CA) decision denying the privilege of the writs of amparo and habeas data petitions by Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano skewed against their lives, liberty and security.

In a decision last August 2, the CA’s former Special Eighth Division said while it found the petitioners’ testimonies as “credible, straightforward and worthy of belief,” it however said they failed to prove the existence of an imminent or continuing threat against them.

The Court added Castro and Tamano failed to prove that the government is responsible in the alleged threats.

The NUPL said the CA gave more credence to the PA’s testimony that the abduction victims suffered no threat while under their custody in a military camp in Bulacan last September.

The PA said they showed “courtesy” and “respect” to the young activists, were allowed to roam around the premises and watch Netflix movies while in their custody.

Castro and Tamano revealed in the government-organized press conference they were abducted in Bataan last September and were ordered to admit they are New People’s Army fighters in exchange for their freedom.

READ: Environmentalists reveal abduction by military

The NUPL said they “respectfully disagree” with the CA decision, saying the victims only faked their cordial attitude with the captors in their desire to survive their ordeal.

Such attitude is “in harmony with human experience and logic,” the NUPL said.

The lawyers’ group added the CA’s characterization of Castro and Tamano’s fear inside the military camp as merely “rooted in preconceived distrust and suspicion of the military,” rather than a response to an actual deprivation of liberty, is “disturbingly out of touch with reality.”

“The notion that they were free to leave at any time defies common understanding of what it means to be under duress. Freedom from such fear, as held time and again in jurisprudence, is the essence of the right to security,” the NUPL said in a statement.

The NUPL said the abduction survivors continue to be red-tagged by government officials and State agents and remain unsafe.

It urged the CA to uphold the May 2024 Supreme Court ruling on red-tagging as a threat to life, liberty and security in the case of former Bayan Muna Rep. Siegfred Deduro versus former PA 3rd Infantry Division chief Gen. Eric Vinoya.

The writs of amparo  and habeas data are remedies available to persons whose right to life, liberty and security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity. The writs cover extralegal killings and enforced disappearances or threats, whether physical or through digital means.

Meanwhile, the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment also criticized the CA decision, urging it and the SC and overturn the rejection.

“The Court should consider the broader context and documented evidence of systematic issues affecting environmental defenders and activists,” the group said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Jhed, Jonila post bail for defamation charge

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State abduction survivors Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano posted bail at the Dona Remedios Trinidad Municipal Trial Court in Bulacan province on Wednesday for the grave oral defamation charge against them by the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government.

The environmental activists posted P18,000 each for their temporary liberty after being accused by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that they used a press conference to accuse the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict of abduction in Bataan Province.

In a press conference organized by the Plaridel Public Information Office last September 19, 17 days after their abduction in Orion, Bataan last September 2, the two victims revealed they have been abducted by the military and have not surrendered as the Philippine Army claimed.

Embarassed by Castro and Tamano’s brave revelation in front of their abductors, the military filed perjury charges that was dismissed by the DOJ in favor of the new defamation charge.

AFP’s ‘honor and reputation’

The new charge was filed by Lt. Col. Ronnel dela Cruz, commander of the 70th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Division based in Doña Remedios Trinidad.

Castro and Tamano were detained at the army unit’s headquarters during their ordeal.

In its resolution, the DOJ alleged the respondents “employed machinations and took advantage of the benevolence of the 70th IB (Infantry Battalion) and the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to embarrass and put them in bad light.”

“There was a deep-rooted motive on the part of respondents to select a public forum that would express their sentiment. We consider the statement of respondents to be serious slander because the circumstances of the case show that they consciously, intentionally and on purpose waited and chose the press conference which would be held in public to air their grievance and plight,” the DOJ added.

“The slanderous words were obviously uttered with evident intent to strike deep into the character, honor and reputation of (the) complainant and the AFP,” the resolution reads.

Abductors and liars

In a joint statement, Tamano and Castro on Tuesday bewailed that the victims have become the respondents, even after the Supreme Court recently granted them Writ of Amparo and Habeas Data protection mechanisms.

“The abductors are very intent to jail those they’ve abducted,” the victims said.

The two also revealed that the Office of the Solicitor General has filed an omnibus motion appealing the writs granted them by the high tribunal.

“The only criminals here are the AFP and NTF-ELCAC abductors and liars, as well as the other government agencies that assist them,” the two added.

The only two victims who bravely revealed being abducted in the presence of their abductors, Tamano and Castro are being hailed as the faces of enforced disappearances and fake surrenders human rights organizations accuse the military of committing.

Their testimonies have also become instrumental in the issuance of recommendations for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC by the United Nations special rapporteurs on climate change and freedom of expression and opinion. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)