Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 10353)
Republic Act No. 10353 is known as the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012.
The State values human dignity and guarantees full respect for human rights, prioritizing measures to protect against secret detention, torture, and enforced disappearance, adhering to domestic and international human rights standards including the 1987 Philippine Constitution, ICCPR, and CAT.
Agents of the State are persons who perform government functions by law, election, or appointment, including employees, agents, or subordinate officials of any rank or class in any government branch.
It refers to the arrest, detention, abduction, or deprivation of liberty by State agents or persons acting with State authorization, followed by refusal to acknowledge or concealment of the person's fate or whereabouts, placing them outside legal protection.
No. The right and fundamental safeguards against enforced disappearance are non-derogable, meaning they cannot be suspended under any circumstance including war or emergency.
No. Such orders are unlawful and cannot be invoked as justification. Persons receiving such orders have the right to disobey them.
It is an absolute right for any detained person to have immediate access to communication to inform family, friends, lawyers, or human rights groups about their condition and whereabouts.
Any person with knowledge of such disappearance, except principals or accomplices, must immediately report in writing to government agencies like DILG, DND, PNP, AFP, NBI, CHR, prosecutors, or human rights organizations.
Reclusion perpetua (life imprisonment) is imposed on those who directly commit, instigate, cooperate, allow, abet, or cooperate in execution; reclusion temporal for attempts and certain accessory acts; prision correctional for failing to comply with certain orders; and arresto mayor for violations of specific procedural duties.
They are held liable as principals if they lead, assist, abet, allow, or fail to prevent or investigate the disappearance despite knowledge or the circumstances warranting knowledge, within their authority.
No. Persons charged with or guilty of enforced or involuntary disappearance cannot benefit from special amnesty laws or similar executive measures exempting them from penal sanctions.
Yes. It continues as long as the perpetrators conceal the fate or whereabouts of the victim and these facts remain uncertain.
The State ensures their safety and protects them from intimidation or reprisals, covering victims, families, witnesses, legal counsel, human rights representatives, and media.
They are entitled to monetary compensation, rehabilitation, restitution of honor and reputation, including expunging derogatory records and information, without prejudice to other legal remedies.
They must immediately disclose the victim’s whereabouts to their family, relatives, lawyers, or human rights organizations by the most expedient means upon learning the victim is under any judicial process.
The register must be official, up-to-date, publicly accessible to legitimate parties, and contain detailed information including identity, dates, authorities involved, health condition, visits, transfers, and events related to the detention.
They may be exempt from criminal and/or civil liability under this Act, provided they are not the most guilty party.
They must immediately report in writing the facts and whereabouts to appropriate government agencies, prosecutors, or human rights bodies without delay.
Within 30 days from the effectivity of the Act, the DOJ, DSWD, CHR, FIND, and Desaparecidos along with human rights organizations shall issue and disseminate the implementing rules and regulations.
No. The prosecution does not prescribe unless the victim surfaces alive, in which case the prescriptive period is twenty-five years from the victim's reappearance.