The Court of Appeals granted the application on Thursday for Writ of Amparo and Writ of Habeas Date of human rights lawyer, Atty. Maria Catherine Dannug-Salucon.
In a 21-page decision, the Court gave credence to the allegation of Salucon as regards to the threats against her, including alleged surveillance and her inclusion in a so called list of “Red lawyers”.
The Court chided respondents police Chief Supt. Miguel De Mayo Laurel, the acting regional director of the Police Regional Office 2, Lt. Gen. Hernando Irriberi, the commanding general of the Philippine Army, Gen. Eduardo Año, commanding officer of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces in the Philippines for their complicity in, and for their failure to exercise extraordinary diligence in looking into the threats on Salucon.
Año is now the commanding general of the 10th Infantry Division.
The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) in a statement released on Friday said Salucon is a founding member of the NUPL and is its incumbent national auditor.
Salucon served as a lawyer of the Public Attorney’s Office from 2005 to 2011. She took cases involving violations of human rights and cases involving political prisoners, NUPL said.
Salucon’s name is reportedly included in the military’s watch list of so-called Communist Terrorist supporters rendering legal services prompting her to file the Petition for Writ of Amparo and Writ of Habeas Date in April 2014 after she experienced intensified surveillance.
