Writ of Amparo

A TOOL THAT GIVES VOICE TO PREYS OF SILENT GUNS AND PRISONERS

BEHIND SECRET WALL

SEC. OF NAT’L DEFENSE VS. MANALO

568 SCRA 1, 2008
 AM No. 07-9-12-SC,
October 24, 2007
Basis of the rule:

Section 5. Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution

The Supreme Court shall have the following powers…
Sec. 5, Promulgate rules concerning the protection and
enforcement of political rights
Enforced/ Involuntary
Disappearance

Republic Act 9851 – Philippine Act on Crimes Against International

Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity.

Defined enforced or involuntary disappearance of persons as the

arrest, detention, or abduction of persons by, or with the
authorization, support or acquiescence of a State or political
organization followed by refusal that deprivation of freedom or
give information on the fact or whereabouts of the persons, with
the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for
long period of time.
Writ of Amparo Proper:

Origin: Spanish word “Amparo” meaning to protect.

from Mexico

Kinds:
 Amparo Libertad
 Amparo Contra Leyes
 Amaparo Casacion
 Amparo Administrativo
 Amparo Agrario
Nature

 Writ of Amparo is a protective remedy against violations or threats of

violation against the right to life, liberty and security. An
extraordinary and protective remedy that provides rapid judicial
relief as it partakes of a summary proceeding that requires only
substantial evidence to make the appropriate interim and
permanent reliefs available to the petitioner ( Rodriguez vs
Macapagal-Arroyo 660 SCRA 84 (2011)).
Purpose

It provides and expeditious and effective relief

to a person whose right to life, liberty and
property security is violated, ot threatened with
violation by an unlawful act or omission of a
public official or employee, or of a private
individual or entity. (Daria vs. Pardico, 673 SCRA
618, 2012).
Preventive: it breaks the expectation of
impunity in the commission of offenses

 Curative: facilitates the subsequent punishment of perpetrators as it

will inevitably lead to subsequent investigation and action.
 Writ of Amaparo as Human Rights
Protector and Justice Tool:
Reasons:
Remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty and security
is violated or threatened to be violated;
government officials but also private individuals/entities;
Petitioners not limited to aggrieved person, but also includes any
concerned citizen or organization if there is no known member of the
immediate family or relative of the aggrieved party;
exempt from docket fees;
Does not require the usual exhaustion of administrative remedies; and
Discourages public officials to make blanket denials of custody of
victims of enforced disappearances
Coverage:

1.Violations of the rights to life, liberty or

security; or

2.Threats to such rights, which are unlawful

or illegal
 Enforced Disappearance

 Those people arrested without witnesses or without positive

identification of arresting agents and are never found again;

 Prisoners who are usually arrested without an appropriate; warrant

and held in complete isolation for weeks/months while their families
are unable to discover their whereabouts and the military authorities
deny having them in custody until they eventually reappear in one
detention center or another; and

 Salvage victims who have disappeared until their lifeless bodies are
later discovered (Razon Jr. vs. Tagitis)
 Elements

 Arrest, detention, or any form of deprivation of liberty;

 Carried out by or with authorization, support or acquiescence of the

State or political organization;

 Followed by refusal of State or political organization refusal to

acknowledge or gives information on the facts or whereabouts of
the person subject of the petition;

 Intention for such refusal is to remove subject person from the

protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.
What are not covered?

 1. Property Rights

 2. Inexistent threat or unfounded grounds

 *Writ of Amparo shall not issue when applied for as a substitute for
the appeal or certiorari process.
Procedure: (A.M. no. 07-9-12-SC)

 Persons who may file:

 Members of immediate family – spouse, children and parents

 Ascendants/descendants within 4th civil degree of consanguinity/affinity
in default of (a); and
 Concerned citizen, organization or association if there is no known (a)
and (b). (sec.2)
 Persons responsible/accountable:

 Public official or employee; or

 Private individual/entity (sec.3)

 Time and place of filing (sec.3)

 Regional Trial Court where the act or mission was committed or where
any of its elements occurred;
 Sandiganbayan or any of its justice;
 Court of Appeals or any of its justice; or
 Supreme Court or any of its justice.

 On any day and at any time, enforceable anywhere in the

Philippines.
 Content (sec.5)

 Every petition for the issuance of the writ must be supported by the aforecited
justifying allegations of fact.

 A. -whether it contains the details available to the petitioner under the circular
while presenting a cause of action showing a violation of the victim’s right to life,
liberty and security through State or private party action.

 b. Petition should be read in its totality, rather than in terms of its isolated
component parts, to determine if the required elements namely, of
disappearance, the State or private action; and the actual and threatened
violations of the right to life, liberty and security are present.
 Issuance of the Writ (sec.6)

 Upon filing of the petition, the court, justice or judge shall

immediately order the issuance of the writ if on its face it ought to
issue.
 Return
 Return serves as the responsive pleading to the petition. It allows the
respondents frame the issues subject to a hearing. Hearing of the main case
should be had after the issuance of the writ and filing of return.

The burden for the public authorities to discharge is 2-fold:

 Ensure that all efforts and disclosure and investigation are undertaken under
pain of indirect contempt when government efforts are less than what the
individual situations require;
 Address the disappearance, so that the life of the victim is preserved and liberty
and security restored.
In case of failure to file a return, the court justice or judge, shall proceed to hear the
petition ex parte.
 Hearing – Summary

 Judgment – within 10 days from the time the petition is submitted for
decision

 Generally, no need to move for execution

 Except when the order is to “grant the privilege of the writ”

 Appeal – Rule 45, Rules of Court

 Questions of fact or law, or both within 5 working days from date of

notice of adverse judgment.

 Petition for Review on Certiorari.

Supreme is not bound by the factual findings made by the court which
rendered the judgment for the issuance of Writ of Amparo.
 Archiving and Revival

If the Amparo proceedings cannot proceed for a valid cause such as

failure of the petitioner or witnesses to appear due to threats on their
lives, the court shall not dismiss the petition, but shall archive it. The
petitioner shall be dismissed with prejudice upon failure to prosecute
the case after the lapse of 2 years from notice of petitioner for
archiving.
Prohibited Pleadings:

 Motion to dismiss
 Motion for extension of time to file pleading
 Dilatory motion for postponement
 Motion for bill of particular
 Counter-claim or cross-claim
 Third-party complaint
 Reply
 Motion to declare respondent in default
 Intervention
 Memorandum
 Motion of interlocutory/interim relief orders
 Petitioner for certiorari, mandamus or prohibition, against any interlocutory order
 Separate action
It does not preclude the filing of separate civil, criminal or administrative actions as
the Writ of Amparo is in the nature of a prerogative writ. It is neither civil, criminal or
administrative suit. Claims for damages cannot be included in the petition for
Amaparo.

 Burden of proof and Standard of diligence:

Substantial evidence is required
Respondent private individual - ordinary diligence required by laws, rules, and
regulations was observed in performance of duty
Respondent public official/employee – extraordinary diligence but cannot invoke
the presumption that official duty has been regularly performed to evade
responsibility or liability.
Interim Reliefs:

 Granted before the final adjudication of the case is made

 Temporary Protection Order (TPO)

 -Upon motion or by the court motu proprio.
 Petitioner or aggrieved party and any member of immediate family be protected by a government agency or by
and accredited person or private institution capable of keeping or securing their safely.
 But once the privilege of the writ of Amparo is granted, there is no need to issue a TPO independently.

 Inspection Order
 -Addressed to any person in possession or control of a designated land or other property, to permit entry for the
purpose of inspecting, measuring, surveying or photographing the property or any relevant objective or operation
thereon. (5 days lifespan)
  Production Order
 -Order any in possession, custody a control of any designated
documents, papers, book, accounts, letters, photographs, objects
or tangible things, or objects in digitized or electronic form, relevant
to the petition or return, to produce and permit their inspection,
copying or photographing on behalf of the movant.

 Witness Protection Order

 -Court may refer the witness to Department of Justice for admission
to the witness protection, Security and benefit program.
Secretary of National Defense vs.
Manalo

G.R. No. 180906, October 7, 2008

 Facts: The brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo, farmers from
Bulacan who were suspected of being members of the New
People’s Army, were forcibly taken from their home, detained in
various locations, and tortured by CAFGU and military units. After
several days in captivity, the brothers Raymond and Reynaldo
recognized their abductors as members of the armed forces led by
General Jovito Palparan.

 They also learned that they were being held in place for their
brother, Bestre, a suspected leader of the communist insurgents.
While in captivity, they met other desaperacidos (including the still-
missing University of the Philippines students Karen Empeno and
Sherlyn Cadapan) who were also suspected of being communist
insurgents and members of the NPA. After eighteen months of
restrained liberty, torture and other dehumanizing acts, the brothers
were able to escape and file a petition for the writ of amparo.
 ssue: Whether or not the right to freedom from fear is or can be protected by
existing laws.


 Held: Yes. The right to the security of person is not merely a textual hook in
Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution. At its core is the immunity of one’s person
against government intrusion. The right to security of person is “freedom from
fear,” a guarantee of bodily and psychological integrity and security.

 To whom may the oppressed, the little ones, the desaperacidos, run to, if the
Orwellian sword of the State, wielded recklessly by the military or under the
guise of police power, is directed against them? The law thus gives the remedy
of the writ of amparo, in addition to the rights and liberties already protected
by the Bill of Rights. Amparo, literally meaning “to protect,” is borne out of the
long history of Latin American and Philippine human rights abuses—often
perpetrated by the armed forces against farmers thought to be communist
insurgents, anarchists or brigands. The writ serves to both prevent and cure
extralegal killings, enforced disappearances, and threats thereof, giving the
powerless a powerful remedy to ensure their rights, liberties, and
dignity. Amparo, a triumph of natural law that has been embodied in positive
law, gives voice to the preys of silent guns and prisoners behind secret walls.