Reverse decision, grant amparo to envi activist Eco Dangla, rights groups appeal to CA
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
30 September 2025
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
Reverse decision, grant amparo to envi activist Eco Dangla, rights groups appeal to CA
Karapatan and Desaparecidos deplore the Court of Appeals ruling denying the petition for protective writs for environmental activist Eco Dangla and hope that it will rule favorably on Eco’s motion for reconsideration.
We urge the Court to reverse its ruling, which strikes a blow for impunity and withholds justice from Eco and other victims of abduction and torture. Its ruling serves to prevent the truth from being revealed, and encourages the perpetrators to repeat their crimes.
Worse, it renders Eco and his companion Jak Tiong even more vulnerable not only to threats, harassment and intimidation, but to graver human rights violations.
With the Court practically declaring that their account of their harrowing ordeal is neither credible nor legitimate, it sends a signal to their assailants that it is now open season against the two victims. The next time around, they can be abducted and no longer surfaced. They could be killed extrajudicially. Or like their fellow abduction survivors Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, whose petitions for protective writs were likewise unjustly denied, Eco and Jak could be red-tagged anew, vilified and become subjects of frivolous, arbitrary and retaliatory lawsuits filed by the powerful persons impleaded in Eco’s petition for amparo.
The Court’s unjust verdict not only renders it complicit in the abduction and torture of Eco and Jak. For serving as enablers of Eco and Jak’s assailants, the Court cannot wash its hands on any future violation of the two victims’ rights.
Karapatan and Desaparecidos will continue to explore all avenues in supporting Eco Dangla’s search for the truth behind their torture and abduction, justice for the rights violations they suffered and accountability for those responsible for their ordeal.
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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.