[PODCAST] Law of Duterte Land: Are extraordinary writs still effective in the time of Duterte?

MANILA, Philippines –  With a spate of warrantless arrests and detentions even during a quarantine, and an anti-terror bill in the horizon, the remedies of extraordinary writs become more crucial.

But are these writs still effective in the time of President Rodrigo Duterte?

There has been a recent streak of failures to win the privileges of these writs, leaving human rights workers, activists, lawyers and even an incumbent member of Congress, without protection from alleged harassment and surveillance.

The rules of the writs of amparo and habeas data, the so-called extraordinary writs, were promulgated only in 2007 when the Supreme Court made the rare move of intervention and came up with judicial measures to protect human rights amid rising extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances under the Gloria Arroyo administration.

In the face of widening crackdowns on activists, journalists, and other forms of dissent under the Duterte administration, can the Supreme Court do a repeat of 2007 and be more proactive in protecting the human rights of Filipinos?

Listen to this podcast as we go back to 2007, parse the loopholes in the rules of these writs, and try to imagine where we are headed with the current Supreme Court.

National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) president Edre Olalia joins us in this podcast

Listen to past episodes:

• Episode 1 Part 1: Supreme Court’s most controversial decisions
• Episode 1 Part 2: Department of Justice’s evolving definition of warrantless arrests
  
• Episode 2: The rule of law in the time of the coronavirus
  
• Episode 3: Pandemic and the great wall of free speech
• Episode 4: Will petition to disclose Duterte health work?
• Episode 5: Legal difficulties of a prisoner mass release
• Episode 6: Breaking down the ABS-CBN franchise legal and political issues
• Episode 7: ABS-CBN and the 3 tangled branches of government

If you have tips and suggestions for episodes, email the host at lian.buan@rappler.com. – Rappler.com