DAVAO CITYProgressive human rights group Karapatan – Southern Mindanao lauded today the Supreme Court for upholding the writ of amparo that would protect people from human rights abuses, particularly against extralegal killings and enforced disappearances.
Karapatan Secretary General Kelly Delgado said that the writ of Amparo is a remedy made available for the victims of human rights abuses and to the worsening human rights situation in the country.
“As human rights defender, the writ of amparo is a welcome step particularly to the victims of human rights abuses. This will block the military to invoke in their defense the “Presumption of Regularity”, the presumption that official duty has been regularly performed to evade responsibility or liability and will further bar military officers in judicial proceedings to issue denial answers regarding petitions on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances,” Delgado said.
“As this writ of Amparo will take effect on October 24, it will compel state agents to look for the missing person or surface those who are believed to be in their hands. The decision will hopefully make the military and its cohorts to rethink their attacks against human rights, if not really stop them from perpetuating these abuses,” Delgado said.
On September 25, Chief Justice Reynato Puno officially announced the approval of the Writ of Amparo. Amparo, a Spanish word that means protection is a Mexican legal procedure that aimed at protecting human rights. The “recurso de amparo” is an exhaustive remedy which originated from Latin America’s Mexican, Chile and Argentina legal systems, inter alia. Mexico’s Amparo is found in Articles 103 and 107 of the Mexican Constitution — the judicial review of governmental action, to empower state courts to protect individuals against state abuses.
“The law now allows kin of human rights victims to file and invoke the petition before the Regional Trial Court of the place where the threat, act or omission was omitted. The writ shall be enforceable anywhere,” Delgado said.
Karapatan as human rights group is challenging the Supreme Court to enforce the writ of amparo that will eventually shed more light as it will serve its judicial purpose to give hope to the families of the victims, end the continuous victimization and to find the disappeared despite the seemingly insurmountable odds. Likewise, adds into the perseverance of the victims’ families to go out on a limb and summon as well as to hold the State accountable.###
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Extrajudicial Killings
