Protecting human rights through habeas data

A MONTH after its promulgation, the writ of habeas data has been issued for the first time in relation to two cases separately filed by Guillermo M. Luz, Ayala Foundation executive vice president, and Anakpawis party-list member Francis Saez last March 3 and March 5, respectively.

Respondents in both cases were Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Police Director-General Avelino Razon, and other government officials.

In his petition for the issuance of the said writ, including the writ of amparo, Luz said that the military should appear before the court to confirm or deny whether the military has been conducting surveillance operations on him over his alleged involvement in a plot to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In particular, Luz was referring to the “Pen coup,” the “siege” by rebel soldiers and civilians at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City last Nov. 29, 2007.

Luz further said that the respondents should submit to the court and disclose to him any photographs, reports, data, or information gathered in the course of their “case buildup” against him.

The writ of habeas data, together with the writ of amparo, is an important legal tool in the battle against impunity and the continuing human rights violations in the country. Created by the Supreme Court in the exercise of its rulemaking power pursuant to the Constitution, the writ is aimed at enforcing one’s right to informational privacy, as well as to protect citizens’ rights to life, liberty, and security.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno said the writ opens the courts to petitions that would otherwise be left unheard, “so that claims for violations of the right to informational privacy shall be heard and addressed.”

Speaking at a forum organized by the National Union of People’s Laywers (NUPL) yesterday, the chief magistrate said habeas data entitles families of disappeared persons to know the totality of circumstances surrounding the fates of their relatives, imposing an obligation of investigation on the part of the government.

The writ took effect last February 2, 2008 and is available to any person whose “right to privacy in life, liberty, or security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act or omission” of a public official, a private individual or an entity that gathers, collects, or stores information about him or her, his or her family, home, and correspondence.

Puno specified that the remedies for such violation include the updating, rectification, suppression or destruction of the data. He stressed, however, that the rules for habeas data are not meant to hinder the gathering of data about a person, but only the erroneous ones.

The Supreme Court, stressed Puno, is not blind to the worsening human rights condition in the country, which, according to NUPL, has already tallied more than 900 victims of extrajudicial killings and 200 more victims of enforced disappearances in the last five to six years.

“Always there is a need to balance the powers of the government and the right of the individual so that we can all enjoy that ever elusive ‘just and humane society’ where over one’s own mind and body, the individuals remain sovereign,” Puno said.

Despite the public nature of these crimes — committed in broad daylight, in public places, and near witnesses — very little prosecution and no conviction at all have been ordered against its perpetrators.

Listen to Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s speeches on the writ of habeas data:

Speech 1
Length: 00:22:42
File size: 20.7 MB
Language: English

Speech 2 (first part)
Length: 00:20:14
File size: 18.4 MB

Speech 2 (second part)
Length: 00:19:39
File size: 17.9 MB
Language: English