THE Supreme Court has issued a writ of amparo against Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) personnel allegedly responsible for the enforced disappearance of three persons, including two students of the University of the Philippines (UP).
In a resolution, the SC ordered the AFP to make a return of the writ before the Court of Appeals Special Former Eleventh Division on or before November 6.
The High Court also directed the CA to hear the petition on November 8, and decide the case within ten days after its submission for decision.
UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, along with one Manuel Merino, were allegedly forcibly abducted by elements of the Philippine Army 56th Infantry Batallion, then under the command of Ret. Gen. Jovito Palparan. They were then in the house of Raquel Halili, at Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy, Bulacan on June 26, 2006.
Petitioners led by Erlinda Cadapan, mother of Sherlyn, said that new evidence on the enforced disappearance will be presented to force military elements responsible for their abduction to surface them.
Besides Palparan, respondents in the case were President Arroyo; AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr.; PNP Chief Dir. Gen. Avelino Razon; Ret. Army Gen. Romeo Tolentino; Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac; and Lt. Francis Mirabelle Samson.
The Cadapan and Empeno families said that if the military will again deny having custody of their daughters, they will ask the court to order for an inspection of at least nine places where the victims were last seen.
Recently, the Court of Appeals, led by CA Associate Justice Jose Catral Mendoza, issued a resolution ordering the Philippine National Police (PNP), Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate Palparan after he failed to “produce” the body of the victims in a habeas corpus case.
The SC also issued another writ of amparo by ordering CA Justice Lucas Bersamin to conduct a summary hearing on a petition concerning brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo who were allegedly abducted by the military.
The case reached the SC through an appeal for review of the CA’s junking of the petition for habeas corpus lodged to surface the Manalo brothers.–Jomar Canlas, The Manila Times
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