Fil-Am obtains writ of amparo

THE Court of Appeals has granted the request of Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas for a writ of protection from any form of harassment from the police and military.

But the court rejected Roxas’ claim that top Defense, police and military brass had a hand in her abduction and torture last year. Roxas said she was in Bulacan when she was abducted and taken to an unknown place by people she claimed to be military men.

The Court’s Special Division through Associate Justice Noel Tijam also ordered the military to protect Roxas while in the country and not to distribute in public any documents or records pertaining to her alleged ties with the Communist party.

Roxas’ request to inspect her alleged detention cells was denied by the court.

Roxas had named Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and police and military officials as respondents in her petition for a writ of amparo and habeas data.

In its ruling, the court dismissed the claim of the military that the abduction of Roxas was stage-managed and that her injuries were self-inflicted.

The CA added that based on the police and medical reports, Roxas was not only actually abducted, but was also tortured.

But the court ruled that Teodoro and the military-police leadership could not be held liable for her unfounded claim that the military authored her abduction and torture. –Rey E. Requejo, Manila Standard Today