Desaperecidos and the Writ of Amparo in the Philippines

The phenomenon of disappearing journalists, students and social protesters is unfortunately a disturbing reality of the Philippine political scene. Just recently, the Philippine Supreme Court instituted a remedy to greatly assist the friends and relatives of the desaperecidos, or the disappeared persons, in determining what has happened to them. Previously, the only alternative available to the seeker was the writ of habeas corpus.  Unfortunately, the military could easily respond to such writs by simply claiming that it did not know of the disappeared¡¯s whereabouts. The new alternative, the writ of amparo, compels the military to provide all the records in its possession to the seeker so as to help the court determine where the disappeared is. However, in this modern age, terrorists and other subversive organizations make use of advanced technology, to plot and map out their dastardly activities, so there is a greater need for the military to avail itself of more advanced surveillance practices, which unfortunately may lead to violations of privacy of the citizen. It may also result in the proliferation of disappeared persons. This paper tackles this phenomenon in the Philippines and will deal with how the government has responded to the dangers of terrorism, how military abuses have been committed in the name of national security, and how the courts deal with the situation of the desaperecidos.