SC, DOJ help sought to end attacks on rights groups

More than 100 individuals, religious and civil society groups have urged the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice to promptly act on what they condemned as arbitrary arrests, detentions, and extra-judicial killings of human rights advocates and critics of the administration.

In a letter to Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, the groups sought to declare as unconstitutional the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which they said has been the cause of EJKs, arrests and detentions of persons who have been “red-tagged” by law enforcement agents.

The SC has yet to resolve the 37 petitions assailing the constitutionality of the ATA.

The groups asked the magistrates to “review and revise rules on the service of search warrants and issuances of arrest warrants against human rights defenders, which appears to be routinely used to judicially harass and arbitrarily detain them.”

They also pleaded the SC to review the rules on the privilege of the writs of amparo and habeas data “to ensure that human rights defenders are afforded timely, relevant and comprehensive legal protection from threats to their lives, security and liberty, including red-tagging.”

For the DOJ, the appellants sought a “prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations into the killings, arrests, detentions, searches and other forms of persecution of human rights defenders; and those responsible must be held accountable.”

“We, the undersigned civil society, religious organizations and individuals, are writing to you to express our profound and urgent concern on the recent extrajudicial killings, judicial harassment,

arbitrary arrests and detention and threats through red-tagging against human rights defenders, including Karapatan human rights workers, human rights lawyers, trade unionists and public sector unions, and organizers of community pantries in the Philippines,” they added.

The groups who made the appeal include Migrante, Gabriela, Anakbayan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), and Karapatan Alliance Philippines. Other individuals and other groups were from Australia, Canada, Uganda, Hongkong, the United Kingdom and the United States.