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Razon V Tagitis Digest
Razon V Tagitis Digest
CASE DIGESTS
Razon v. Tagitis
December 3, 2009
Brion
Paolo Q. Bernardo
If you can, please go beyond the summary-doctrine boxes; especially so you understand
the ratio of the Court. Apologies for the delay AND length; as for the length, I omitted a lot
of facts I deemed irrelevant. Lastly, please see the dispositive.
amparo:
To read the Rules of Court requirement on pleadings while
addressing the unique Amparo situation, the test in reading
the petition should be to determine whether it contains the
details available to the one filing the petition under the
circumstances, WHILE presenting a cause of action
showing a violation of the victims rights to life, liberty and
security through State or private party action.
On whether enforced disappearance is a proper ground for
a writ of amparo:
The Amparo Rule expressly provides that the "writ shall
cover extralegal killings and enforced disappearances or
threats thereof.
However, while the Rule covers "enforced disappearances"
this concept is neither defined nor penalized in this
jurisdiction.
However, this not a stumbling block that will prevent the
issuance of a writ of amparo, because UNDERLYING every
enforced disappearance is a violation of the constitutional
rights to life, liberty and security that the Supreme Court is
mandated by the Constitution to protect through its rulemaking powers.
Furthermore, the Court has surveyed international law and
states that enforced disappearance as a State practice has
been repudiated by the international community, so that
the ban on it is now a generally accepted principle of
international law, which should be considered a part of the
law of the land, and which should act upon to the extent
already allowed under our laws and the international
conventions that bind us.
On the elements of an enforced disappearance:
Under the definition in the UN Convention, the elements
that constitute enforced disappearance are essentially
fourfold:
i.
arrest, detention, abduction or any form of
deprivation of liberty;
carried out by agents of the State or persons
or groups of persons acting with the authorization,
support or acquiescence of the State;
iii.
followed by a refusal to acknowledge the
detention, or a concealment of the fate of the
disappeared person; and
iv.
placement of the disappeared person outside
the protection of the law.
ii.
FACTS:
Engr. Morced N. Tagitis is a consultant for the World Bank and the Senior Honorary
Counselor for the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Scholarship Programme
He was last seen in Jolo, Sulu.
Kunnong and Muhammad Abdulnazeir N. Matli, a UP professor of Muslim studies
and Tagitis fellow student counselor at the IDB reported Tagitis disappearance to
the Jolo Police Station.
More than a month later , the Mary B. Tagitis (Tagitis), Engr. Tagitis's wife, filed a
Petition for the Writ of Amparo (petition) with the Court of Appeals (CA).
The petition was directed against certain members of the Armed Forces of
the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP):
Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, Commanding General, Philippine Army;
Gen. Avelino I. Razon, Chief, PNP; Gen. Edgardo M. Doromal, Chief,
Criminal Investigation and Detention Group (CIDG); Sr. Supt.
1. WON the petition for writ of amparo filed is sufficent in form and
substance;
2. WON an enforced disappearance is a proper ground for issuance of a writ
of amparo;
3. WON there was an enforced disappearance in this case;
4. WON the PNP may be held accountable;
RULING:
1. Yes;
2. Yes;
3. Yes;
4. Yes;
RATIO:
1. In questioning the sufficiency in form and substance of the respondents
Amparo petition, the petitioners contend that the petition violated Section
5(c), (d), and (e) of the Amparo Rule.
a. SPECIFICALLY, the petitioners allege that Tagitis failed to, in her
petition:
i. allege:
any ACT or OMISSION the petitioners committed in violation of
Tagitis rights to LIFE, LIBERTY, and SECURITY
in a complete manner HOW Tagitis was ABDUCTED, the persons
RESPONSIBLE for his DISAPPEARANCE, and the respondents
SOURCE of INFORMATION;
the abduction was committed at the petitioners instructions or
with their consent;
any action or inaction attributable to the petitioners in the
performance of their duties in the investigation of Tagitis
disappearance;
ii. implead the members of PNP-CIDG regional office in Zamboanga
alleged to have custody over her husband;
iii. attach the affidavits of witnesses to support her accusations;
iv. specify what legally available efforts she took to determine the fate
or whereabouts of her husband.
b. The petitioners state that a petition for the Writ of Amparo shall be
signed and verified and shall allege, among others, as stated in Section
5 of the Rule on the Writ of Amparo:
i.
(c) The right to life, liberty and security of the aggrieved party
violated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission
of the respondent, and how such threat or violation is committed
with the attendant circumstances detailed in supporting affidavits;
ii. (d) The investigation conducted, if any, specifying the names,
personal circumstances, and addresses of the investigating
authority or individuals, as well as the manner and conduct of the
investigation, together with any report;
iii. (e) The actions and recourses taken by the petitioner to determine
the fate or whereabouts of the aggrieved party and the identity of
the person responsible for the threat, act or omission; and
c. The framers of the Amparo Rule never intended Section 5(c) of the
Rule to be complete in every detail in stating the threatened or actual
violation of a victims rights.
i. As in any other initiatory pleading,the pleader must of course state
the ultimate facts constituting the cause of action, omitting the
evidentiary details.
ii. In an Amparo petition, however, this requirement must be read in
light of the nature and purpose of the proceeding, which addresses
a situation of uncertainty; hence the one filing the petition may not
be able to describe with certainty how the victim exactly
disappeared, or who actually acted to kidnap, abduct or arrest him
or her, or where the victim is detained, because these information
may purposely be hidden or covered up by those who caused the
disappearance.
d. To read the Rules of Court requirement on pleadings while addressing
the unique Amparo situation, the test in reading the petition
should be to determine whether it contains the details
available to the one filing the petition under the
circumstances, WHILE presenting a cause of action showing a
violation of the victims rights to life, liberty and security
through State or private party action.
i. The petition should likewise be read in its totality, to determine if
the required elements--namely, of the disappearance, the State or
private action, and the actual or threatened violations of the rights
to life, liberty or security-- are present.
e. Applying these rules in the present case, the petition amply recites in
its paragraphs 4 to 11 the circumstances under which Tagitis suddenly
dropped out of sight after engaging in normal activities, and thereafter
was nowhere to be found despite efforts to locate him.
i.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
i.
i.
j.
4. The PNP and CIDG are accountable because Section 24 of Republic Act No.
6975, otherwise known as the "PNP Law," specifies the PNP as the
governmental office with the mandate "to investigate and prevent crimes,
effect the arrest of criminal offenders, bring offenders to justice and assist
in their prosecution."
a. The PNP-CIDG is the "investigative arm" of the PNP and is mandated to
"investigate and prosecute all cases involving violations of the Revised
Penal Code, particularly those considered as heinous crimes."
b. Under the PNP organizational structure, the PNP-CIDG is tasked to
investigate all major crimes involving violations of the Revised Penal
Code and operates against organized crime groups, unless the
President assigns the case exclusively to the National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI).
c. Given their mandates, the PNP and PNP-CIDG officials and members
were the ones who were remiss in their duties when the government
an
enforced