The Task is Not Yet Done

by Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Supreme Court

Just over the weekend, the Philippine Star reported that a body of a man, believed to be a victim of summary execution, was found hogtied and dumped along Calle Uno in Barangay 81, Caloocan City North, before dawn. The victim was described as about 30 to 36 years old, 54 tall, wearing denim pants and a yellow t-shirt. The victim also had a tribal tattoo on his right leg. His hands and legs were bound to his neck by a length of electrical cord, his mouth gagged with a towel and covered with packing tape, and his chest bore stab wounds. I like to think the news report is the best justification for this Seminar. The writs of amparo and habeas data have been promulgated by the Court in September 2007 and January 2008, respectively, to arrest the rising threat to our basic rights to life, liberty, and security. These two writs complement the existing writ of habeas corpus long provided for in our laws. It is our fervent hope that with these three writs, we have enough legal arsenal to combat this stubborn problem of extra legal killings and enforced disappearances. Indeed, our gains in this problematic area cannot be understressed. Statistics show that by the end of the first quarter of 2008, the Supreme

Delivered at the Multi-Sectoral and Skills-Building Seminar Workshops on Human Right Issues: Extra Legal Killings and Enforced Disappearances for the Second Judicial Region on April 3, 2008, Hotel Elizabeth, Baguio City.

Court has already issued a total of 24 writs of amparo, out of the 27 petitions filed. Similarly, the High Court has already issued three writs of the newlypromulgated habeas data, and has directed the Court of Appeals to try and hear them. These numbers are suffused with significance: first, they show the peoples increasing awareness of the new remedies; and second, they show the peoples returning faith to our justice system. Equally important, we can now feel the heightened consciousness of our people on the sanctity of human rights, particularly on the part of our law enforcers. I have received information that there have been marked changes in the way our law enforcers investigate extra legal killings and enforced disappearances. There is now a conscious effort to hew to higher standards of investigation to solve these crimes. With an enlightened and empowered citizenry, and more effective law enforcement, there is reason to hope that this problem that has marred our legal landscape will soon blow away. Be that as it may, these successes are but initial steps. Justice done remains the best deterrent to any and all crimes: only when the liable are made to account for their actions can we close the book on the problem. And this ultimate goal of punishing the guilty requires the seamless efforts of all sectors in the criminal justice system. Just last week, the European Union (EU), during the two-day 2008 Philippine Development Forum in Clark Field, Pampanga, lauded the significant decrease in the cases of unexplained killings and enforced disappearances in the Philippines. In the

same breath, it note(d) with concern that to date, in no case have the perpetrators been made accountable. The challenge is how to make the writs of amparo and habeas data work, how to translate their vague promise to visible reality. Laws that protect life are lifeless unless they are enforced. We need to assure victims they can bet their shirt on our legal mechanism. Government and the NGOs need to hold their hands and give them the assurance that justice will be administered with fairness, with effectiveness, with speed and at a cost, they could afford. A bungled investigation, a half hearted prosecution, a slow footed Judge, a high cost of litigation will dry up the fervor of victims to rely on our system of justice. By all means, we have to grapple with these problems: inefficient investigators, deficient evidence-gathering techniques and equipment, lack of prosecutors and lawyers of the Public Attorneys Office, reluctance of families of the victims and witnesses to report the commission of a crime and testify in court, failure of some courts to conduct continuous trial, complexity of the rules governing trials and appeals, lack of funding and incomplete implementation of the Witness Protection Program, and the lack of resources of the victims to survive the expenses of our turtle pace of justice. Much work remains cut out for each and everyone of us. Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so must we ensure that each stakeholder is playing its part and playing it well lest efforts coming from other sectors be rendered inutile. The critical factors of

cooperation and coordination among the key players in the justice sector will

be addressed by this multi-sectoral and skills-building seminar workshop. This significant seminar will enhance our knowledge of the constitutional and international law bases of human rights; it will give us a peep into developments on International Humanitarian Law; and it will sharpen our perception of the problems involved in the prosecution of human rights violation. By the end of this two-day activity, we all hope we will be walking away refreshed by a new spirit, strengthened by a new resolve to protect the human rights of our people, less with our lips but more with our lives. Allow me to take this opportunity to thank the Philippine Judicial Academy, an indispensable ally in the success of the initiatives taken by the Court in the protection of our peoples rights. The Academy has played a crucial role in providing the necessary teeth to the High Courts Rules, extending education and training beyond our judges, justices, and Court personnel to other players outside the judiciary. I would also like to thank the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, together with the USAID, and the Commission on Human Rights for co-hosting this seminar. Let me formally open this seminar-workshop with words of encouragement from the revered Justice William O. Douglas: As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness. We have seen the darkness, and we are slowly easing into the light. Together, let us work to drive away the

pall of darkness cast over our human rights by extra legal killings and enforced disappearances. Sooner or later, our work will bear its fruits, for, of all kinds of rights, human rights have an eternal resilience. Humans may be killed but human rights are beyond murder. Let us, therefore, be buoyed by the thought that there is no way to lose the battle for human rights. For we know that they who have attempted to bury human rights, all ended up in the graveyard instead. That is not a prophesy; that is history. A pleasant morning to all.