Supreme Court of Philippines Orders AFL, Arroyo, and police to produce missing activist.

It remains to be seen whether anything will happen as a result of this order. No doubt everyone will deny involvement. It is a little surprising that the Court ordered this since the court is often thought of as beholden to Arroyo. Not this time around or in some other cases as well.


Philippine Supreme Court orders Arroyo, military, police to produce missing activist

The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
MANILA, Philippines: The Philippine Supreme Court has ordered President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the military and police to produce a missing left-wing activist in court later this week, officials said.

The July 16 order, made public by court officials Tuesday, stemmed from a habeas corpus petition filed by the mother of Jonas Burgos, who was kidnapped by gunmen on April 28.

Witnesses said they saw Burgos being dragged by six armed men and a woman who identified themselves as policemen from a restaurant in a suburban mall to a waiting car. The license plate was later traced to another vehicle impounded at the army's 56th Infantry Battalion camp in northern Bulacan province.

The military and police have denied any hand in the disappearance of Burgos, a young activist and son of a late prominent newspaper publisher, who was a crusader for press freedom during dictator Ferdinand Marcos' rule.

His mother, Editha Burgos, petitioned the court to ask Arroyo, as commander in chief, to order his release or investigate who was responsible for his abduction.

The high tribunal ordered Burgos to be produced on Friday when the lower Court of Appeals in Manila starts a hearing on his disappearance.

The military has repeatedly denied accusations by human rights groups and a U.N. envoy that it is behind a wave of extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances of activists.

The local human rights group Karapatan has reported more than 800 people — about half of them left-wing activists — have been killed in politically motivated attacks by suspected security forces since 2001. In addition, about 200 have been abducted and remain missing, it says.

International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com