HUMAN rights defenders, along with victims of trumped-up charges and extrajudicial killings, asked the Supreme Court to institute judicial safeguards to protect the people against abuses of the law.

The groups cited the government’s counter-insurgency campaign as the primary moving force in the commission of gross human rights violations such as arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings.

Bayan Secretary General Renato M. Reyes Jr., Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay, KMU Secretary General Jerome Adonis, KMP chairman Danilo Ramos, ACT Secretary General Raymond Basillo, COURAGE President Santiago Dasmarinas and Bayan Metro Manila chairman Raymond Palatino submitted a detailed report on the trends in human rights violation under the Duterte administration to the high court.

They were joined by Marites Asis, the mother of political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino who was arrested on the basis of a questionable search warrant in Manila; Rosenda Lemita, mother of Ana Marie Evangelista who was killed during the “Bloody Sunday” raid in Batangas; Rosalinda Salundanga, partner of Melvin Dasigao who was also killed during the Bloody Sunday raid in Rizal;  Cordillera People’s Alliance chair Windel Bolinget who was the subject of an arrest warrant in a case he was not even notified of and provided preliminary investigation; Beatrice Belen, also a Cordillera activist who was arrested but later released after the trumped-up charges were dismissed; and Jenelle Buan, the daughter of peasant leader Joseph Canlas who recently died from Covid19 after his arrest in Angeles Pampanga. The signatories were assisted by lawyers from the NUPL.

The signatories submitted case summaries that highlighted the human rights violations under the Duterte regime.

They asked the high court to strengthen the writs of amparo and habeas data in light of the rampant red-tagging and terrorist-labelling being done to activists, journalists and other sectors on different media platforms.

They believe that red-tagging actually leads to direct injury, sometimes even death and that the court can prevent these rights violations.

The groups sought added safeguards in the issuance and service of search warrants given the successive arrests made against leaders of Bayan in Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol.