Writ of Amparo is antisoldier

Marit Stinus-Remonde
Manila Times

Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, in his keynote address at the Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Forced Disappearances last July, lamented that the country is “bedeviled by extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances” that “expose the frailties of our freedom, the inadequacy of our laws if not the inutility of our system of justice.” Considering this situation, the judiciary “has decided to unsheathe its unused power to enact rules to protect the constitutional rights of our people, the first and foremost of which is the right to life itself.” On October 24, United Nations Day, this unused power of the judiciary will be unsheathed as the Rule on the Writ of Amparo takes effect.

Charlie Solayao and Rogelio Picoy were killed on July 17 and 21, respectively, in Tacloban City. Solayao was connected with Anakpawis and Kadamay while Picoy was a police asset, but—like Solayao—still connected with the communist movement. The killing of Solayao was carefully planned to coincide with Chief Justice Puno’s summit and with the scheduled visit of Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño. Both police and informal sources confirm that the two assassinations had the blessings of the Communist Party. Solayao’s crime was related to his mishandling of party funds, while Picoy was killed for passing on information about Solayao to the police. Relatives of the victims were reportedly directly involved in both assassinations. Mrs. Solayao refused to collaborate with the police even as reports showed that she talked to the assassins immediately before and right after they killed her husband.

The New People’s Army is an army, and its mission is to use its armed force to gain an advantage, be it military, financial or political, for the communist party. The party appears as a broad movement composed of party-list parties, NGOs, people’s organizations, research and media organizations, professional groups, and religious organizations, all with well-established international ties. There was a time when the NPA would own up to its killings. Today, however, it kills its civilian enemies and puts the blame on the military. It has found an unexpected and very powerful ally in the Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Puno.

“Elected officials usually go for what is popular,” the Chief Justice said in his speech at the summit, “but the vindication of human rights sometimes demand taking unpopular decisions especially in instances where, due to technicalities, the right of the righteous is trumped by the rights of the wicked.” I wonder who, in the opinion of our Chief Justice, is the wicked and who is the righteous? Those who rejoice over the Rule on the Writ of Amparo are the very groups that defend and protect the NPA and help it accomplish its mission. The NPA is the country’s No. 1 perpetrator of extrajudicial killings. Those who are demoralized are the soldiers in the field. Manning isolated military outposts, conducting hot pursuit operations, and patrolling rebel-infested areas, despite risking being blown up by landmines or ambushed, are duties that the soldiers perform to ensure that the rest of us, the Supreme Court justices included, can sleep peacefully at night. Yet, the Rule on the Writ of Amparo will effectively remove the soldiers’ constitutional right to presumption of innocence before proven guilty if the accuser is the NPA or any of its front organizations.

Veronica Tabara, widow of Arturo, told the Daily Inquirer that it is “hypocritical for the CPP-NPA to invoke human rights violations, when they have actively violated and failed to respect the basic rights of others. They say they are a movement that represents the interest of the people but they do not respect the rights of those who do not agree with them.” Tabara isn’t included in Karapatan’s list of victims of political killings because Karapatan belongs to the movement that Tabara left and which eventually had him executed. Tabara’s daughter lost both a father and husband on September 26, 2004. Her husband’s crime was to be together with his father-in-law at the time of the attack. The young woman reportedly remains in deep trauma. Mrs. Tabara has been advised to leave the country for her own safety. Did anybody go to jail for the murder of her husband and son-in-law?

The Chief Justice is right. These extrajudicial killings expose the “inutility of our system of justice.”