By: Antonio Hernandez 

Relatives of two "disappeared" labor organizers of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) asked for the Supreme Court's (SC) intervention through a writ of amparo and temporary protection order to ensure their safety and return. 

In their plea, petitioners Ruth Manglalan and Alyssa Marie Magbanua said they decided to bring their efforts to locate and return Elizabeth "Loi" Magbanua and Alipio "Ador" Juat to the SC's attention. They said their efforts to locate them in military camps, police stations, and even hospitals were futile since they were taken by armed men who introduced themselves as members of the Philippine Navy. 

The two were "arrested" on May 3 after attending a meeting regarding their community organizing activities in Valenzuela City. 

"Petitioners assert that Juat and Magbanua's rights to life, liberty and security are being violated and continue to be violated as of the filing of this petition and invoke the jurisdiction and power of this Honorable Court to issue this protective writ," wrote the petitioners to the SC. 

They stressed to the SC that the disappearance of the two are "indisputable proof that their rights to life, liberty and security was already violated the moment they were abducted and eventually "disappeared" on May 3, 2022." 

Though they said Juat was able to talk to her daughter while another one visited him in Camp Aguinaldo does not mean that her rights to liberty were not being violated. 

"As both petitioner Maureen and her sister Marielle assert, their father may have freedom of mobility as he can leave Camp Aguinaldo but he is not actually free, because if he indeed is free to go anywhere he wants to go, he would be out of Camp Aguinaldo and organizing workers as he used to do that and as what he has been doing all his life," they said. 

"The fact remains that both Loi and Ador are victims of enforced disappearance," the petition added. 

In their plea, the petitioners asked the SC to order the inspection of Camp Aguinaldo and Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. 

Camp Aguinaldo is the military general headquarters, while Fort Magsaysay is the biggest military camp outside of Metro Manila. 

"Petitioners implore the power of the Honorable Court to issue temporary protection orders in their favor as well as for their families. They genuinely fear for their lives given the attendant circumstances surrounding the disappearance of their loved ones as well as the fact that government agents or persons acting for and or on their behalf are responsible for these disappearances," they said in their plea. 

Named respondents in the petition are acting Defense Secretary Jose Faustino Jr. and AFP Chief of Staff Lt.General Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, NICA chief Ricardo De Leon and several other military officers.