COURT INTERVENTION SOUGHT In separate petitions for writs of amparo and habeas data, the families of missing activists James Jazmines and Felix Salaveria Jr. asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to compel the government to surface their loved ones. 鈥擭I脩O JESUS ORBETA
The families of James Jazmines and Felix Salaveria Jr. filed separate petitions for writs of amparo and habeas data before the Supreme Court on Thursday to press their demand for authorities to release the missing activists.
鈥淲e believe that they are in the hands of security forces as the [closed circuit television camera] CCTV footage clearly shows that what happened was a police or military operation,鈥� said Tony La Vi帽a, the legal counsel for Salaveria鈥檚 daughters.
While both are legal remedies, a writ of amparo is available to persons whose 鈥渞ight to life, liberty and security鈥� is violated or threatened while the writ of habeas data applies to those whose 鈥渞ight to privacy in life, liberty or security鈥� is violated or threatened, according to the definition of the Supreme Court itself.
READ: Disappearance of 2 activists a 鈥榩rofessional operation鈥�
Jazmines and Salaveria went missing on Aug. 23 and Aug. 28, respectively, in Tabaco City, Albay. Karapatan, one of the human rights groups assisting their families, said that 鈥渁 few days after their abduction, a quick response team was organized and traveled to Bicol to investigate the incident.鈥�
Vehicles of interest
In September, the families and their lawyers, as well as Karapatan, held a press briefing in which they presented CCTV footage obtained during their investigation. One showed Salaveria being grabbed by men inside a silver Toyota van which was followed by two men riding separately on motorcycles.
While there was no CCTV of Jazmines during his abduction, several 鈥渧ehicles of interest鈥� were observed in the area where he would later disappear, including a silver Toyota van, which traveled in a convoy.
Karapatan also said that witnesses had claimed the two activists were being surveilled months before the incident, strengthening their suspicion that it was state agents who abducted the pair.
鈥淲e are demanding [from] the Office of the President, President Marcos, and all the officials of the security sector, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Philippine National Police chiefs, to surface the two,鈥� La Vi帽a said on Thursday.
All avenues exhausted
According to Karapatan, the petitions were filed after the families of the activists said they had 鈥渆xhausted all avenues to locate James and Felix, including searching in camps and police stations, to no avail.鈥�
La Vi帽a also noted that even with the CCTV footage they presented, the police had only said their investigation was still underway. 鈥淚t has been two months, and [the investigation] has not progressed,鈥� the lawyer said.
Jazmines, the younger brother of former National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Alan Jazmines, used to be an official of the League of Filipino Students and Kilusang Mayo Uno.
Salaveria, on the other hand, is a founding member of indigenous rights groups Tunay na Alyansa ng Bayan Alay sa mga Katutubo and Kabataan para sa Tribung Pilipino, as well as the biking group Cycling Advocates.