Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Oledan: Flicker of hope By Radzini Oledan Slice of life
ON February 2, the writ of habeas data took effect. By invoking the truth, habeas data will not only compel government agents to release information about missing individuals but will also require access to military and police files.
The new law was a by-product of the unprecedented summit on extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances that was called by the Supreme Court last year.
It is another amendment to the Rules of Court introduced by the High Tribunal. The first was the writ of amparo.
The twin writs of amparo and habeas data were crafted amid increasing human rights violations in the country.
The writ of amparo is considered to be broader in scope than the writ of habeas corpus.
The writ of habeas corpus compels the government to produce the body of anyone being held in detention but the writ of amparo goes further by compelling state agents to look for the missing person.
The writ of amparo does not accept a general denial and state agents could be held liable if found they have not exerted enough efforts to look for the missing person.
With this new law, hope emerges for the families of desaparacidos like Malaya.
On October 25, 2006 Federico Intise and wife Nelly was last seen with a family friend Gloria Canaveral in Purok Puting Bato, Barangay Calumpang, General Santos City. Federico is a farmer while his wife Nelly works as a community organizer for an NGO in Davao City.
Malaya, Federico and Nelly's daughter, narrated that on October 19, 2006, her mother visited her father at their farm in Alabel, Sarangani. On October 24 Nelly sent a text message to Malaya that she would come home on October 26. That was the last communication made by Nelly.
On November 11, 2006, Malaya was informed that both parents and a colleague of her father were abducted by unidentified armed men.
The new rule was meant to protect the rights to privacy, to life, liberty and security of citizens.
Under the writ of habeas data, any person who has ground to believe that his or her "rights to privacy, liberty or security are violated or threatened by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or an employee or of a private individual or entity engaged in the gathering, collecting or storing of data or information regarding the person, family, home and correspondence" could avail of the writ.
After compelling the government and the military to open its camps and jails to the relatives of victims of human rights abuses, the Supreme Court has also given them the right to ask for official records.
The writ had been used to resolve the problem of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Latin American countries under military dictatorships.
The writ of habeas data is also seen as a remedy to protect the privacy of an individual and to enforce the freedom of information. It also supplements the writ of amparo, which disallows the police and the military the defense of denial.
There is a flicker of hope. Email comments to roledan@gmail.com.
