“It will be an added ammunition to state forces to violate human rights. The suspension of writ of habeas corpus will allow the State to arrest and jail anyone,” said Antonio Flores, KMP secretary general.
“The climate of impunity and non-accountability of police and military forces and even paramilitary groups over human rights violations and abuses will worsen if Malacanang pursues this Marcosian line of thinking,” added Flores.
Flores said “farmers are among the most vulnerable to human rights violations and rights abuses by state forces.”
“In fact, several farmers from San Jose Del Monte City in Bulacan were unjustly subjected to illegal arrest and incarceration under the guise of the PNP’s Oplan Tokhang anti-drug campaign,” he said.
He recalled that only last Oct. 5, farmers Rowel Reola, Lito Natural and Alfredo Ravelo of the Karahume Farmers Association, an affiliate of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid ng Bulacan (AMB-KMP) who are actively resisting landgrabbing in Sitio Karahume were illegally arrested and charged with violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act. They were released last Nov. 8 after the prosecutor found no probable cause for the cases filed against them, he noted.
Flores also noted the recent warning of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers which said that “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is a legal procedure/remedy that orders that a person deprived of liberty must be physically produced in court and the custodian must justify or prove that the deprivation or arrest has legal basis. If the legal basis is not established, the person is normally ordered set free at once. If the privilege is suspended, this legal remedy is unavailable.”
