[DESAPARECIDOS] Kin of disappeared welcomes CA decision on writs on missing James Jazmines

[KARAPATAN Public Information]

Press Release
15 January 2026

Reference: JL Burgos, Desaparecidos Chairperson

Desaparecidos secretariat, 09189790580

Kin of disappeared welcomes CA decision on writs on missing James Jazmines

Desaparecidos (Pamilya ng Desaparecidos para sa Katarungan) welcomed the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) granting protective writs to missing activist James Jazmines. The petition filed by James' wife Elna Corazon in November 2024 impleaded, among others, Gen. Romeo S. Brawner Jr. and PGen. Rommel Marbil who were the chiefs of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police at the time of Jazmines' abduction, and local police chiefs in Albay province and Tabaco City.

In a decision dated October 7, 2025 but released only yesterday, January 14, 2026 to the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), the CA’s 12th Division declared that Jazmines' disappearance falls within the definition of the law and jurisprudence on enforced disappearance, rendering his petition for a writ of amparo meritorious.

The CA likewise granted Jazmines' petition for a writ of habeas data because "State authorities are shown to possess, control or have accessed personal data and effects of James, obtained and retained under questionable circumstances, without full disclosure, lawful justification or accountability."

The Court moreover assailed the respondents for having failed to "demonstrate the extraordinary diligence required to negate threats to the rights to life, liberty, security and privacy of James (Jazmines)."

A writ of amparo protects the rights to life, liberty and security against extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance, while a writ of habeas data protects the right to privacy of information. Both are extraordinary remedies designed to protect individuals who are facing threats to their life, liberty and security and are in need of ensuring their right to know and control personal information in the hands of State authorities.

Jazmines was abducted in Tabaco City, Albay on the night of August 24, 2025, five days before the abduction in the same city of fellow activist Felix Salaveria Jr. It was Salaveria who reported Jazmines' disappearance to human rights group Karapatan before he himself went missing. The petition for protective writs filed by Salaveria’s daughter had been granted by the Court of Appeals on July 21, 2025.

"The grant of protective writs for victims of enforced disappearance," said Desaparecidos chair and spokesperson JL Burgos, "confirms State accountability for the disappearance. Either the State is responsible for or complicit in the disappearance, or has failed to exert the required effort to find the disappeared person. With the CA decision, it is now incumbent upon State authorities to rectify this failing. They must surface James Jazmines and conduct a thorough investigation that will lead to the truth about his disappearance and accountability for the perpetrators."

"Desaparecidos will persist in supporting the Jazmines family in their continuing efforts to have James surfaced safe and sound, ferret out the truth about his disappearance and mete justice on his abductors," concluded Burgos.

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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.