By Vincent Cabreza

Inquirer Northern Luzon

BAGUIO CITY—The Episcopal Church of the United States has presented the case of a missing Baguio activist to the US Congress in seeking a review of the military aid appropriated for the Philippines.

Rev. Canon Brian Grieves, director of the Advocacy Center of the Episcopal Church, discussed the fate of activist James Balao when he testified on March 18 before the US House committee on appropriations’ subcommittee on state and foreign operations.

Grieves said the church needed “to ensure that our military aid to the Philippines is not exacerbating an already tragic situation regarding human rights there.”

Balao, an Episcopal Church member, was abducted by armed men on Sept. 17, 2008, in La Trinidad town in Benguet province, a few meters from the Cordillera police headquarters in Camp Dangwa. He has not been seen since. He turns 48 on April 19.

According to Grieves, the church decided to seek the US House committee’s attention because of a conclusion that Episcopalians have made—that Balao’s case illustrates the failure of the writ of amparo, a special legal instrument issued by the Philippine Supreme Court to protect people whose rights have been violated by government activities or acts of omission.

A copy of Grieves’ testimony was sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer by local Episcopal leaders and by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), the indigenous rights organization that Balao had founded.

Amparo not enough

Balao’s family was granted a writ of amparo by the Benguet Regional Trial Court after it concluded that the CPA leader’s disappearance could be attributed to his political activities.

But Grieves said that by itself, the writ was “not enough to address the rampant impunity enjoyed by human rights abusers in the Philippines.”

He cited a writ of amparo that was issued in December 2008 to help recover two abducted farmers of Bulacan province.

“The Philippine government has yet to open an impartial investigation” because the case involves a retired military officer who has been linked to human rights abuses, he said.

“We recommend that the United States government undertake a thorough investigation as to where and how US military aid to the Philippines has been spent, with particular emphasis on whether these funds are being used in ways that violate the people’s right to life, liberty, and security,” Grieves said.

He added: “We believe the rights and freedom of the Filipino people, including James Balao, cannot be fully realized until these steps are taken.”

Gov’t unresponsive

Grieves and a political analyst, Alexander Baumgarten, testified that Balao was abducted by five men in a white vehicle.

Citing eyewitness accounts, the Episcopal leaders said one of the armed men waved a gun at onlookers and said Balao was a suspected drug dealer.

“We have been painfully aware of the extrajudicial killings and disappearances that have terrorized the human rights community of the Philippines and deeply disappointed at the lack of response from the Philippine government, and with the continuation of US military aid despite the lack of progress on human rights,” Grieves told the US House committee.

He said that as early as last year, Presiding Episcopal Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori wrote President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, Gen. Alexander Yano, to plead for action against cases of forced disappearances.

“We have yet to receive an answer,” he said.

Appealed or challenged

In Baguio, CPA chair Beverly Longid said the writ of amparo was meant “in spirit” to protect victims from government excesses but had been subjected to varying interpretations by local judges.

She said many writs had been appealed or challenged in court, and that the one issued for Balao was also on appeal.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers convened two weeks ago in Manila and came up with 26 points of discussions regarding the writ of amparo, which the Supreme Court may have to consider in reviewing its impact on forced disappearances.

Longid said many of the lawyers agreed that judges hearing petitions for a writ of amparo had “treated [this new instrument] as a procedure for accountability or for finding guilty parties, when it should be the document that coerces government to cooperate with its victims in recovering a missing loved one.”

A case study of existing writs of amparo showed that the victims still shouldered the burden of proof, Longid said.