Hearing for disappeared labor activist starts almost a year after filing

MANILA – Eleven months have passed since Cora Jazmines, wife of disappeared labor activist James Jazmines, filed the petitions for writs of amparo and habeas data to the Supreme Court (SC). The first summary hearing of the Court of Appeals (CA) finally started on Thursday, October 2.

“It’s very saddening that the [hearing] for the petition for a writ of amparo took almost a year. It’s like there was no urgency,” said Cora Jazmines in a message to Bulatlat. “Where is the swift judicial remedy to enforced disappearance through the writ of amparo?”

Both writs of amparo and habeas data are summary in nature, with SC stating that time “cannot stand still when life, liberty or security is at stake.”

The writ of amparo is a legal remedy and protection available to any person whose right to life, liberty, or security has been violated or is threatened. This serves as protection from extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. The writ of habeas data, meanwhile, protects a person’s right to privacy arising from unlawful collection, storage, or use of a victim’s personal data.

In the first year of James’ disappearance, Cora said that she wrote a letter addressed to the justices of SC due to the slow progress of their decision to the petitions.

Read: A year after husband’s disappearance, Corazon finds more questions than answers

James was abducted on August 23, 2024 around 10:00 p.m., after celebrating the birthday of his friend Felix Salaveria, Jr. It was Salaveria who reported James’ disappearance. But five days later, he was also abducted. Both of them remain missing. 

James was a staunch activist since the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. He joined the League of Filipino Students and became the editor of its newsletter The Commitment. After his stint at the youth organization, he organized under Kilusang Mayo Uno and helped establish the Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center, an institution dedicated to advancing workers’ rights, serving as its founding executive director until 1988.

JL Burgos, chairperson of Desaparecidos, an organization of families and friends of victims of enforced disappearance, said that they are cautiously optimistic for a favorable resolution to the Jazmines family’s petition for protective writs. 

“We really do not know what to expect, given the Court of Appeals’ spotty record on granting these writs,” Burgos said in a statement. He cited the denial of writs for disappearance survivors Jhed Tamano, Jonila Castro, and Eco Dangla. 

He added that they continue to support the Jazmines family and all other families of the missing activists in their continuing demand to surface their loved ones, find the truth, and hold the perpetrators accountable. 

Currently, Cora is under a temporary protection order issued by the SC. The summary hearing was postponed several times since the SC issued its decision on May 6, 2025. 

Among the implicated state security officials are Romeo S. Brawner, Jr., in his capacity as then-chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP); Rommel Francisco D. Marbil as then-director general of the Philippine National Police (PNP); Nicolas D. Torre III as then-director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG); Andre Perez Dizon as the regional director of the Regional Provincial Office V; Julius C. Añonuevo as the provincial director of the Albay Provincial Police Office;  Ivy P. Castillo as the chief of CIDG-Regional Field Unit V; and Edmundo A. Cerillo in his capacity as the officer-in-charge of the Tabaco Police Station.

“I only want James to be surfaced because it has been more than a year since he disappeared,” Cora said. “And of course, I want the abductors to be held accountable for this.” (DAA)

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