Monday, February 4, 2008

WRIT OF HABEAS DATA

With Justice Puno at the helm of the country's Supreme Court, individual rights to privacy and liberty are being raised higher. Too supplement the Writ of Habeas Corpus, the court came up with the Writ of Amparo. hoping to strengthen it further, we now have the Writ of Habeas Data.

As a practical example, let us assume that a person is missing and reported to have been arrested by government authorities. Visits to various military and police offices turned negative and relatives are already afraid that the arrested individual might have been kidnapped by lawless authorities or taken by government agents and tortured (or even killed). The relatives and friends of the missing person may seek the courts help by filing for a writ of Habeas Corpus that directs the authorities to produce the body before the court at a specified time.

However, the people identified and directed by the Writ of Habeas may deny having the person in their custody and the relatives are still left not knowing if the apprehended person is still alive. In this instance, the Writ of Amparo, which is derived from the word "Amparar" (protection) serves as a very effective tool. I will edit this article later and elaborate on this part.

To give the citizens more legal options, the court has introduced the Writ of Habeas Data which partly is partly explained through the following:

"The writ of habeas data, which went into effect Saturday, is available to anyone whose "right to privacy in life, liberty, or security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act or omission" of public officials or private individuals or entities that gather, collect, or store data regarding a person or his family, home, and correspondence.

One can use it to compel the release of information, or to update, rectify, suppress, or destroy such data.

"The basic attribute of an effective right to informational privacy is the right of individuals to control the flow of information concerning or describing them. It is, however, a right that must be balanced by legitimate public concerns," the Supreme Court explained."

2 comments:

durano lawayan a.k.a. brad spit said...

JC,


This is such a good deed. We need this now in these times of uncertainty. But I'm sure Joe De Venecia is one I won't be concerned with. May his tribe decrease.

Your vigilance is admirable.

--Durano, done!

jc smith said...

Thanks for the kind words, Durano. I wanted to lambast DeVenecia in this blog until his descendants will be so ashamed that they will file for a change of surname. However, I don't want to waste any space here. His soul is beyond human intervention. I am leaving him to God.

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