The Supreme Court has granted writs of habeas corpus on at least three recent petitions and is set to act on three more petitions. All in all, these petitions involved 11 missing persons. Named as respondents were the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), including Major General Jovito Palparan, called a “butcher” by activists. But none of the missing, so far, have been produced by the military. In the case of the two University of the Philippines (UP) students, namely Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, the AFP denied that the two are in their custody.

Diokno handles the case of theTagaytay 5 who were arrested on suspicion of being New People’s Army guerrillas. He scored the DoJ for not abiding by the decisions of the Supreme Court saying “it only follows decisions that favor the administration.”

“Kahit naglabas na ng desisyon (ang Supreme Court) ayaw pa rin nilang sundin…ang lumalabas kapag may desisyon ang SC na hindi pabor sa kanila hindi nila susundin,” (Even if the Supreme Court has come out with a decision, the DoJ refuses to abide by it. The DoJ only follows decisions of the Supreme Court that favors the administration.) he said.

“Wala kaming nakikitang problema sa Korte Suprema,nagiging independent naman sila sa paghatol. Yung pag-implement at pagrespeto (ng executive branch ng gobyerno) sa mga desisyon nila ang nawawala,”(We have no problems with the Supreme Court because it shows its independence in its decisions. The problem is in the implementation and respect for its decisions.) he added.

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