(We yield this space to the statement of Panay Alliance Karapatan due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
THE SUPREME Court recently approved A.M. No. 21-06-08-SC, the new rule governing the execution of warrants.
Among other things, this new rule requires law enforcers to use body cameras in the service of both arrest and search warrants. Notably, it also revokes the previous authority enjoyed by Executive and Vice-Executive Judges of Manila and Quezon City Regional Trial Courts to issue warrants enforceable outside their territorial jurisdictions.
This is apparently a response to the widespread condemnation of atrocities committed by the police and the military during the service of warrants, the latest of which include the massacre in CALABARZON in March of this year which led to the deaths of nine activists, the killing of nine leaders of the indigenous Tumandok communities in Panay in December last year, and the massacre of 14 farmers in Negros Oriental in March 2019. Dozens more were arrested during these raids, all amidst numerous eyewitness accounts of evidence-planting and other abuses.
While it leaves much to be desired, the new rule is certainly a welcome development. One can only hope that will help stem the tide of human rights violations perpetrated by government forces.
Still, it is worth emphasizing that the problem lies not in the rules governing the enforcement of warrants, but in the apparent policy of the Duterte administration to demonize and attack progressive organizations, kill or jail their members, and curtail basic rights.
Even though many of our rights are enshrined in the Constitution itself, the police and the military have, time and again, found ways to either bend or break the law in their campaign to stamp out dissent in this country.
It is the crackdown on activists that must be stopped. To that end, we must continue to demand that anti-democratic bodies like the NTF-ELCAC be disbanded, and that the perpetrators of rights violations be investigated and punished.
The public must also remain vigilant of attempts to circumvent and abuse these reforms brought by the Supreme Court.
It is only unfortunate that such reforms had to come late and at great cost – the murder and incarceration of innocent people. We should never forget that, up to this day, many more remain behind bars on trumped-up charges because of the enforcement of these warrants.
If A.M. No. 21-06-08-SC is intended to reduce or eliminate rights violations, then, remedies should also be available to the victims who have already been prejudiced by similar warrants enforced in previous years.
We cannot bring back the lives that were lost, but we can still work to bring about some measure of justice.
The trumped-up charges against activists should be dropped immediately, and all political prisoners released. The police and military officials involved must be investigated and prosecuted. We cannot settle for half-measures. What we demand is justice for the massacres, the mass arrests, and all human rights violations for which this administration must be held accountable.
