Supreme Court junks petition vs progressive youth groups

“We are confident that this junking will set a precedent, and show that we are innocent of all the trumped-up charges, slander, and redtagging propaganda levelled at us by Duterte and his fascist cohorts.”

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The Supreme Court dismissed the petition for writs of amparo and habeas corpus filed by the parents of Alicia Jasper Lucena against progressive youth group, Anakbayan and Kabataan Partylist Rep. Sarah Elago.

According to the decision penned by Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta, Lucena’s parents, Relissa and Francis’ plea for writ of amparo “is not proper” and that the writ of habeas corpus “lacks merit.”

Lucena’s parents alleged that she is being held against her will by the group Anakbayan which she is also a member of.

Read: Youth groups, lawyer decry ‘harassment case’

“Since the petitioner’s daughter has already attained the age of majority, which is 18 years old, AJ, in the eyes of the State, has earned the right to make independent choices with respect to the places where she wants to stay, as well as to the persons whose company she wants to keep,” the decision read.

The SC said that the “remedy of amparo, in its present formulation, confined merely to instances of extralegal killings or enforced disappearances and to threats thereof.”

The high court pointed out that Lucena’s situation does not qualify as an actual or threatened enforced disappearance or extralegal killing. It added that Lucena, is “not missing and her whereabouts are determinable and is staying with the Anakbayan and its officers.”

The court also said that the petitioners failed to show that Lucena is being detained or is being kept by the Anakbayan against her free will.

In a statement, Kabataan Partylist welcomed the SC decision.

“It is clear that the filing of fabricated charges against the youth is an attack by the Duterte regime to intimidate the youth who stand up against injustice, murder, corruption and poverty,” the group said in a statement.

Anakbayan also welcomed the junking of the petitions.

“We are confident that this junking will set a precedent, and show that we are innocent of all the trumped-up charges, slander, and redtagging propaganda levelled at us by Duterte and his fascist cohorts,” Vinz Simon, Anakbayan secretary general, said.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, which assisted the youth groups asked the high court to impose a disciplinary action against Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer of the parents, for allowing himself to be used by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to file a petition which they said was intended only for harassment. (https://www.bulatlat.com)

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