CA Ruling on Morong 43 imperils civil liberties - Satur
Submitted by mkbyn on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 7:49pm
Makabayan senatorial bet and Nacionalista Party guest candidate Satur Ocampo today said that the Court of Appeals ruling denying the petition for habeas corpus of the Morong 43 imperils the civil liberties of all Filipinos and could tragically serve as a precedent for future rulings that undermine the same.
"It is most unfortunate that the CA passed off on the opportunity to defend civil liberties and resist the worsening abuses of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). What exacerbates this mistake, however, is how the CA's decision serves to empower the AFP and condones the military's decided bent on violating civil, politicial and human rights in its military operations," he said.
"It's impossible to ignore how the CA in this case washed its hands of its responsibility to give relief to the Morong 43 and passed it on to the regional trial courts. All of this bids ill for civil liberties in the country," Ocampo said.
"The CA's decision will go down in history as a serious betrayal of the cause of democracy and civil liberties. I hope the Supreme Court reverses this unfortunate ruling," he lamented.
Ocampo, however, lauded CA Justices Normandie Pizzaro and Francisco Acosta for their dissenting opinions and said that they stand exempted from blame. "Justices Pizzaro and Acosta took a stand for the Morong 43 and by extension, civil liberties in the Philippines. They showed both wisdom and compassion in opposing what they correctly saw as abuses of the military and their flagrant disregard for the law," he said. #
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