“This is another victory for the families Loi and Ador.”

By DANIEL ASIDO
Bulatlat.com

(UPDATED: Sept. 10, 2022, 5:45 A.M.) MANILA- The Court of Appeals (CA) issued the privilege of Writ of Amparo in favor of missing activists Elizabeth “Loi” Magbanua and Alipio “Ador” Juat as announced by their legal counsel, on Friday, September 9.

The labor organizers’ lawyer, Minerva Lopez, posted on her Facebook account that the CA’s decision is another victory for their families as they are yet to surface since they were declared missing on May 3.

Read: In search of missing activists, groups seek high court’s help

“This is another victory for the families Loi and Ador. But the fight continues. Loi and Ador should be brought home safely, securely, and immediately to their families,” Lopez wrote.

A Writ of Amparo is a legal remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, and security is violated or threatened with violation by the unlawful act of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity that covers extralegal killings and enforced disappearances and even threats.

The appellate court also granted the families’ prayers for a permanent protection order .

Prior to the filing at the CA, the families and colleagues of Juat and Magbanua also sought assistance from the Commission on Human Rights to locate them. Their families and colleagues also sought help from the Supreme Court who also granted their petition.

Read: High courts grants plea of missing labor organizers’ kin

Magbanua and Juat were together when they were abducted after attending a meeting in Valenzuela.

Juat, a martial law activist and a claimant in the Human Rights Victims Claims Board, was reported to have been able to contact his family through a phone call around the third week of May informing them that they were abducted by elements of the Philippine Navy and that they were at Camp Aguinaldo.

Read: Abducted labor organizers campaigned for aid for displaced workers and urban poor

The CA directed the respondents to utilize the resources at its disposal to assist in locating the two activists.

Among the respondents are Lieutenant General Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines; [Ret.] General Jose Faustino Jr, Officer-in-Charge, Department of National Defense; [Ret.] General Ricardo de Leon, Director General, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency; Lieutenant General Romeo Brawner, Jr, Commanding General of the Philippine Army.

Also named respondents are Major General Roy Galido, Acting Chief of Staff, Philippine Army; Major General Romulo Manel, Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence; and, AFP Brigadier General Nolasco Mempin, Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations. (AMU, RTS)