Environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano attend a thanksgiving gathering organized by rights advocates in Quezon City on October 5, 2023. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/file

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS

Adrian Ayalin

ABS-CBN News

<figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments" id="isPasted"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1707999889179.png" alt=" Environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano attend a thanksgiving gathering organized by rights advocates in Quezon City on October 5, 2023. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/file" class="fr-fil fr-dib"/><figcaption>Environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano attend a thanksgiving gathering organized by rights advocates in Quezon City on October 5, 2023. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/file</figcaption></figure>MANILA - The Supreme Court has granted the petitions for writ of amparo and habeas data filed by environmentalists Jonila Castro and Jhed Reiyana Tamano.   In a statement, the court said that in a decision of the en banc, the petitions of the two for temporary protection order as well as production order were granted as well.   The two filed the petitions against Lt. Col. Ronnel Dela Cruz and members of the 70th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army, Police Capt. Carlito Buco and officials of the Philippine National Police Bataan, National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.   The writ of amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty and security is violated or threatened while the writ of habeas data is for the person to control any information concerning him or her.   Castro and Tamano were the two environmental activists who were last seen doing field work in Bataan on September 2, 2023.   They later on surfaced on September 19, 2023 in a press conference organized by the NTF-ELCAC where they claimed they were forcibly taken by the military and made to sign their affidavits.   The Supreme Court said the elements of enforced disappearance were present in the case, as evidenced by the affidavit of a member of Karapatan on the accounts of witnesses to the abduction, attestation of the petitioners that they left their footwear during their struggle against their captors and photos of the footwear left at the scene of the abduction.   The court noted that Malaya’s statements in an ABS-CBN interview announcing the plan to expose all information they have and that the two may be charged with perjury is already an open and express threat to the petitioners’ right to life, liberty and security.   “After a judicious review of the records, the Court concluded that “there was an established violation or threat to the life, liberty, or security of petitioners by respondents. The writs are called to be issued for reasons so obvious on the mere face of the Petition,” the SC said in the statement.   The court noted that the TPO was issued motu proprio against the respondents and other individuals under them to prohibit them from entering within a radius of one kilometer from the places of residence or present locations of the petitioners and their immediate families.<ul><li><a data-cke-saved-href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/29/24/doj-junks-militarys-perjury-raps-vs-activists" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/29/24/doj-junks-militarys-perjury-raps-vs-activists">DOJ junks military&#x27;s perjury raps vs activists</a></li><li><a data-cke-saved-href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/19/23/surrendered-activists-say-they-were-abducted" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/19/23/surrendered-activists-say-they-were-abducted">&#x27;Surrendered&#x27; activists say they were abducted, reject coerced affidavits</a></li></ul><div> </div><div> </div>

The Supreme Court has granted the petitions for writ of amparo and habeas data filed by environmentalists Jonila Castro and Jhed Reiyana Tamano.

The Supreme Court has granted the petitions for writ of amparo and habeas data filed by environmentalists Jonila Castro and Jhed Reiyana Tamano.

Supreme Court grants petitions of environmentalists allegedly abducted by military | ABS-CBN

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Supreme Court grants petitions of environmentalists allegedly abducted by military

Supreme Court grants petitions of environmentalists allegedly abducted by military

Adrian Ayalin,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 15, 2024 08:25 PM PHT

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Supreme Court

Jhed Tamano

Jonila Castro

PNP

AFP

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