BY EVANGELINE DE VERA

VICTIMS of state harassment using incriminating information may now find succor in the writ on habeas data which takes effect today.

The writ was approved last Jan. 22 via Administrative Matter No. 08-1-16, following a regular en banc session of the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno said the new legal remedy, which complements the writs of amparo and habeas corpus, would allow victims of extra-legal killings and enforced disappearances to know the circumstances surrounding the fate of their relatives and imposes an obligation of investigation on the part of government.

According to Puno, the victims of violations to their rights to privacy may now summon through a petition for habeas data official records being kept by state agencies.

Puno said that under the newly promulgated rules, any person whose rights to privacy in life, liberty or security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act of a public official or private individual engaged in the gathering or storing data may invoke the writ.

He said the writ is particularly crucial in cases of political disappearances as these frequently imply secret executions of detainees without trial, followed by the concealment of the bodies for the purpose of erasing all material traces of the crime and securing impunity for the perpetrators.

"The Supreme Court is not blind to the happenings of the present. Always there is the need to balance the power 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 individual remains sovereign," Puno told a multi-sectoral forum on the habeas data attended by the media, civil society and the military.

But Puno said the court rules are just an interim measure until Congress approves legislation that would protect privacy rights.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said the military "welcomes the move since it gives the proper forum for aggrieved persons."

Under the writ which may be filed without need of paying docket fees, the court shall render judgment within 10 days.

Puno also said the writ of habeas data can help cure defects in the proposed national ID system as the data gathered by government agencies can be used to correct wrong or erroneous information contained in the proposed ID system aside from providing citizens with a means of redress in case someone in authority abuses this safeguard.

According to the Rule, a petition for habeas data may be filed with the regional trial court, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan or the SC when the action concerns public data files of government offices.