The Supreme Court has sustained the ruling issued by the Court of Appeals that granted the petition for the issuance of the writs of amparo and habeas data in favor of a human rights lawyer who claimed that he is being tagged as “Red lawyer” by law enforcers.
In a 21-page decision, the SC’s First Division through Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin dismissed the petition filed by officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police seeking the reversal of the appellate court order.
The high court ruled that the appellate court did commit error in giving weight to lawyer Maria Catherine Dannug-Salucon’s proof even if it supposedly consisted of circumstantial evidence and hearsay testimonies.
Salucon, who is a member of the National Union of People’s Lawyer in the province of Isabela, filed a petition for writs of habeas data and amparo in April 2014 before the CA after she received information that she was placed under surveillance by the military and tagged as a “Red lawyer.”