NUPL, et al. vs. PRESIDENT DUTERTE, et al.

G.R. No. 246175; May 3, 2019

Facts: The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) is a nationwide voluntary

association of human rights lawyers. In 2014, NUPL vice president Atty. Salucon

allegedly experienced heavy surveillance and harassment, and that her paralegal,

Bugatti, was killed after a court hearing. In 2018, Atty. Ramos was killed in Negros

Occidental. Several other instances of threats, harassment and intimidation due to

NUPL’s work and advocacy were also cited. The NUPL petitioned for the issuance

of the writ of amparo and writ of habeas data after army generals linked lawyers to

communist rebels, and included them in a matrix that tagged media groups in a

supposed ouster plot against the president.

Along with National Security Adviser (Ret.) Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, et.al,

President Rodrigo Duterte was impleaded in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of

the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Issue: Whether the president of the Philippines can be made as a respondent in

amparo and habeas data proceedings under the doctrine of command responsibility
Ruling: Yes. Although originally used for ascertaining criminal responsibility, the

command responsibility doctrine has also found application in cases of human rights

abuses. To hold someone liable under the doctrine of command responsibility, the

following elements must obtain:

(a) There exists a superior-subordinate relationship between the accused as

superior and the perpetrator of the crime as his subordinate;

(b) The superior knew or had reason to know that the crime was about to be or

had been committed; and

(c) The superior failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent

the criminal acts or punish the perpetrators thereof.

Here, the president, being the commander-in-chief of all armed forces, necessarily

possesses control over the military that qualifies him as superior within the purview

of the command responsibility doctrine. Hence, he can be impleaded in the petitions

for the writs of amparo and habeas data.