Petition seeks SC reversal on writ of amparo

By Rey E. Requejo

THE Supreme Court (SC) has been asked to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals denying the plea of the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) for the issuance of a writ of amparo against the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

In a petition filed on Monday, the CPA through some of its officers and members also reiterated their call for the issuance of a temporary restraining order enjoining NTFELCAC and other respondents from linking the CPA and its affiliate organizations with communist-terrorist group New People’s Army in their social media posts and other forms of publication.

The petitioner also pleaded the SC to compel the respondents to take down all existing social media posts and forms of publicity which tag the group and its officers and members as communist-terrorists.

A writ of amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, and security has been violated or under threat through various acts of the respondents.

The petitioner claimed that these acts include the relentless red-tagging and vilification by “state forces” and unknown entities in public places and social media posts, such as Facebook and community meetings; the issuance of Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee (RLECC) Resolution paving the way for the conduct of house visitations of individuals identified as associated or members of communist front organizations (CFO); and visitations, stalking, surveillance, and harassment allegedly perpetrated by officers of the respondents NTF-ELCAC, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), Philippine Army (PA), Department of Interior and Local Government-Cordillera Administrative Region (DILG-CAR).