SUPREME Court Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen yesterday said its Committee on Human Rights will work to recommend the approval of the writ of kalayaan, a remedy which he previously proposed to address the problem of jail congestion in the country.
Leonen said the recommendation will be made in the “coming year,” adding that he will also call the attention of specific courts regarding the condition of jails and detention centers in the country.
“The Committee on Human Rights will also review the contents, impact, and operations of the writ of amparo, habeas data and habeas corpus. It will do so in a consultative manner, involving not only the basic sectors but government as well as uniformed services,” Leonen, who heads the committee, said during the unveiling of the marker memorializing the SC’s commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the lobby of its main building in Manila.
Leonen first suggested the writ of kalayaan in his separate opinion in 2020 on the case brought to the SC by political detainees seeking to be released on the ground of their old age and medical condition, make them more susceptible of contracting the deadly COVID-19 virus.
He said a new writ called the writ of kalayaan can be be issued “when all the requirements to establish cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment are present,” adding it should “provide an order of precedence in order to bring the occupation of jails to a more humane level.”
Then Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta said Leonen’s idea will be studied and reviewed by the SC.
Upon assumption to the post, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said the writ of kalayaan is an innovation that would need a thorough study but said this could take time.
Gesmundo said that pending the official use of the writ, the SC “will adopt rules as the exigencies require in order that these constitutionally-guaranteed rights are fully protected.”
Leonen said the SC will also come up with measures on how to better project judges and lawyers in the country amid threats of violence targeting them.
More than 30 retired and active judges have been killed since 1999, with only 10 percent of the cases having been resolved, with the masterminds in some cases not even arrested or charged.
The Free Legal Assistant Group, which was founded during the Marcos dictatorship, reported that from 2016 to 2021, 61 lawyers, prosecutors and judges have been killed, more than the 28 who were murdered from 1972, when martial law was declared, until 2016.
Last year, the SC acknowledged the concerns raised by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and other groups on violence targeting members of the legal profession and directed all lower courts to help law enforcement agencies in investigating them.
Meanwhile, Gesmundo said the installation of the human rights marker “reaffirms the SC dedication to the truths underlying our declaration and to testify to our commitment to uphold and protect the rights embodied therein.”
“Set forth in this declaration are thirty human rights, indivisible and interdependent, engendering a universal respect for the equality of each human being,” Gesmundo said, adding that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has not only inspired constitutional laws “but also spurred most democracies in the world in their fight for independence and self-determination.”
“We declare that in the Supreme Court and in the entire Judiciary, there will be no intolerance, bigotry, and prejudice, but only respect, acceptance, and equality,” he added.
International Human Rights Day is observed on December 10 of every year, coinciding with the day in 1948 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
