of the Philippines the criminal justice system is - Article 2

disappeared
victims’ families
can file habeas
corpus petitions
but cannot
indict
perpetrators in
court....
“
”
[personnel] who took custody of the Manalo brothers”. The victims
have not been seen since. Their relatives have also gone into
hiding, fearing for their lives.
In another case the wife of labour leader Rogelio Concepcion,
who was forcibly abducted and disappeared on 6 March 2006, is
living in total insecurity. After Rogelio’s abduction, Marissa and
her family noticed the suspicious movement of persons not known
to them, who are believed to be closely watching them. Despite
the high security risk that she and her family are facing, she
has not received any protection or assistance. There has also
been no help from the authorities to locate her husband, who
has not been seen since he was abducted. As a result, the family
lives in permanent fear.
There is also the case of journalist and activist Joey Estriber,
who was abducted and forcibly disappeared on 3 March 2006. At
around 6:20 pm, Estriber was on his way home, when he was
dragged by four armed men towards a tinted maroon van parked
nearby. As in previous cases, his whereabouts and fate remain
unknown and his family has had difficulty finding assistance
from government agencies.
Disappeared victims’ families can file habeas corpus petitions,
but cannot indict perpetrators in court for the crime of
disappearance despite strong circumstantial evidence showing
the involvement of either the military or the police. Take the
case of two student activists Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño
and peasant Manuel Merino, who were abducted on 26 June 2006
in Hagonoy, Bulacan. Cadapan was pregnant at the time. Although
the Supreme Court has granted the victims’ families petition
for habeas corpus, requiring retired Major General Palparan and
others to produce them in court, no progress has been made
regarding their whereabouts.
In August and October 2006, six people were forcibly abducted
by unknown persons and disappeared in separate incidents in
Mindanao. One of them was later found dead with brutal torture
marks on his body, while another was freed by his captors. Sitti,
the wife of disappeared victim Cadir Malaydan, was with her
husband when he was forcibly abducted by armed men in
Monkayo, Compostela Valley on October 19. There has been no
police investigation and no assistance for her to locate her
husband. Another victim, Ustadz Habib Darupo, was released a
day after he was abducted in Banaybanay, Davao Oriental on
October 24, but only after being tortured by his captors. After his
release, no protection was afforded to him and no assistance was
given to help him recover from the extreme trauma that he
experienced. Again, no effective investigation was conducted to
identify the perpetrators. And although Ali Barabato’s body was
found three days after he was abducted in Davao City on August
28, the whereabouts of his two companions remain unknown.
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article 2 • February 2007 Vol. 6, No. 1