FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
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Enforced or involuntary disappearance is a sudden and forcible arrest, detention or 
abduction of a person or group of persons who are actually or allegedly involved in social 
transformation or in upholding and defending the civil, political, economic, social and cultural 
rights of the people, It is perpetrated directly or indirectly by agents of the State who refuse to 
disclose the whereabouts of the victims or to acknowledge the detention with the intention of 
depriving them protection of the law for, a prolonged period of time, 
Involuntary disappearance is one of the cruelest forms of human rights violations, It 
violates not only the right to liberty and security of the person, the right against torture, force, 
violence, threat, intimidation, secret detention places, solitary, incommunicado or other forms ,of 
similar detention, which are guaranteed by the Constitution, but practically all human rights 
in eluding the right to life, The victims' are deprived of due process of law and are forced to 
endure unimaginable indignities and atl,ocities in the hands of the perpetrators, 
The State resorts to involuntary disappearance to stifle dissent and to silence political 
activists, The atrocious offense is pra<;ticed in no less that 65 States, In the Philippines, The 
Families of Victims of Involuntary DisappeaTance (FIND) has already documented 1,662 out of 
the 1,871 reported cases of enforced or involuntary disappearance as of March 2004, Of these 
cases 1,094' are still missing, 327 have surfaced alive and 241 found dead, Eight hundred fifty-
five (855) involuntarily disappeared during the Marcos regime, 820 under the Aquino 
administration, 87 under Ramos, 58 under Estrada and 51 under the Macapagal-Arroyo 
dispensation, Involuntary disappearance may no longer be rampant but is still unabated, Not a 


single case has been resolved. No perpetrator has been punished. No victim or his/her family has 
been indemnified. 
The families and relatives of some victims have filed in court 14 cases. In the absence, 
however, of a law penalizing involuntary disappearance, the cases are lodged as kidnapping, 
murder, serious illegal detention or a combination of the last two offenses. It is, therefore, urgent 
to enact a special law defining and penalizing enforced or Involuntary disappearance as a crime 
distinct from kidnapping, serious illegal detention or murder. Hence, this bill which not only 
seeks to impose penalties on the perpetrators of enforced or involuntary disappearance but also (0 
provide greater protection from this odious transgression of human rights. 
Crimes committed by agents of the State against the very people they have sworn 'to 
protect are indeed reprehensible acts that must be punished severely as (he people's defenders 
become their assailants. The people vest the State with vast powers for the protection of the 
people's rights and the promotion of their welfare. Thus, if the State uses these powers (0 
mastermind and execute wrongful and cruel acts, like enforced or involuntary disappearance that 
deprive the people of the dignity that makes them human, (he State must be held liable both 
criminally and civilly. 
This is a Senate counterpart bill to one filed in the House of Representatives by Rep. 
Edcel C. Lagman.' 
, This bill was originally filed during the Thirteenth Congress, First Regular Session. 


FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
,' .. 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
SEN~Tl,.\ 
S. No. 
~l'i1l55 
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Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
1 
AN ACT 
2 
DEFINING AND PENALIZING ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCE 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
3 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Anti-Enforce.d or Involuntary 
4 
Disappearance Act." 
5 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. - The State values the dignity of every human being 
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and guarantees ful! respect for human rights for which highest priority shall be given to the 
7 
enactment of measures for the enhancement of the right of the people to human dignity, the 
8 
prohibition against enforced or involuntary disappearance, the provision for penal and civil 
9 
sanctions for violations thereof, and c,?mpensation and rehabilitation of the victims and their 
10 
families. Further, no acts of torture, force, violence, threat or intimidation or any act which 
11 
vitiates the free will shall be employed against the person abducted, arrested, detained, 
12 
disappeared or otherwise removed from the effective protection ofthe law. 
13 
SECTION 3. Definition of Enf~rced or Involuntary Disappearance. - For purposes of 
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this Act, enforced or involuntary disappearance shall be deemed committed when a person is 
15 
deprived of hislher liberty, in whatsoever form for political reason(s) by agents of the State or by 
16 
private persons or group of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the 
17 
State, followed by an absence of information, or refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of 
18 
liberty and information, or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person 
19 
thus placing such person outside the protection ofthe law. 
20 
In the event the prosecution fails to prove political motive, the deprivation of liberty of 
21 
the victim who surfaces alive shall be punishable as kidnapping under the Revised Penal Code. If 
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the victim is subsequently found dead or his/her disappearance persists for over three (3) years, 
2 
he/she is presumed killed by those responsible for his/her arrest or abduction, and the act of 
3 
enforced or Involuntary disappearance in either case shall be punishable as murder. 
4 
SECTION 4. Permanent Prohibition of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance. - The 
5 
prohibition of enforced or involuntary. disappearance and the fundamental safeguards for its 
6 
prevention shall not be suspended under any circumstances including political instability, threat 
7 
of war, state of war or other public emergencies. 
8 
SECTION 5. "Order of Battle" Not Legal Ground for Enforced or Involuntary 
9 
Disappearance. - An "Order of Battle"., official or otherwise, issued by the military, police or 
10 
any law enforcement agency of the Government, shall not justify an enforced or involuntary 
11 
disappearance and shall subject the perpetrators to the same corresponding penalties provided in 
12 
this Act. 
13 
SECTION 6. Right of Victim of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance. - It shall be the 
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absolute right of a victim of enforced or Involuntary disappearance to immediately inform 
15 
his/her family, relative, lawyer(s) or a human rights organization by all means that are available 
16 
and expeditious, by cellular phone, landline, courier, electronic mall, telegram, radio or other 
17 
means, on his or her whereabouts and condition. 
18 
SECTION 7. Duty of Person(s) Keeping, Arresting, or Detaining Victim(s) of Enforced 
19 
or Involuntary Disappearance. - Any person(s) keeping, arresting or detaining a victim of 
20 
enforced or involuntary disappearance or who shall learn or have information of such fact shall 
21 
have the duty to immediately report in writing on the circumstances and whereabouts of such 
22 
victim to the nearest office of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the 
23 
Philippines (AFP), Department of the Interior and Local Government (D 1 LG), Department of 
24 
National Defense (DND), the City or Provincial Public Prosecutor, the Commission on Ruman 
25 
Rights (CRR) as well as the victim's family, relatives, lawyer(s) or to a human rights 
26 
organization by the most expedient means. 
2 


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SECTION 8. Duly of Person(s) to certifY In Writing on the Results of Inquiry into a 
2 
Possible Victim's Whereabouts. - In case a family member, relative, lawyer(s), human rights 
3 
organization or member of the media inquires with a member or official of any police or military 
4 
detention center, the PNP or any of Its agencies, the AFP or any of Its agencies, the NBI, or any 
5 
other agency or instrumentality of the Government, as well as any hospital or morgue, public or 
6 
private, on the presence or whereabouts of a reported victim of enforced or involuntary 
7 
disappearance, .such member or official shall immediately issue a celtification in writing to the 
8 
inquiring person or entity on the presence or absence and/or information on the whereabouts of 
9 
such possible victim. 
10 
SECTION 9. Duty of Inquest/Investigating Public Prosecutor or any Judicial Of' Quasi-
II 
judicial Employee or Official. - Any Inquest or Investigating Public Prosecutor or any judicial or 
12 
quasi-judicial employee or official who learns of such disappearance and upon whom the victim 
13 
of enforced or involuntary disappearance is delivered for inquest or preliminary investigation or 
14 
for any other judicial process, shall have the duty to immediately disclose such circumstances 
15 
and the victim's whereabouts to his/her immediate family, relatives, or lawyers or to a hlUnan 
16 
rights organization by the most expedient means. 
17 
SECTION 10. Official Up-to-Date Register of all Persons Detained or Confined. - All 
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persons deprived of liberty shall be held solely in officially recognized and controlled places of 
19 
detention or confinement where an official up-to-date register of such persons shall be 
20 
maintained. All information contained in the register shall be made available to the relatives, 
21 
lawyers, judges,' official bodies and to all persons who have legitimate interest in the 
22 
information. 
23 
SECTION 11. Visits of Inspection to All Places of Detention. -
Competent 
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representatives of the Commission on Human Rights shall conduct regular, independent, 
25 
unannounced and unrestricted visits of Inspection to all places of detention and confinement. 
26 
SECTION 12. Liability 0.( Commanding Officer. - The immediate C0111l11anding Officer 
27 
or equivalent Senior Official shall be held liable for an enforced or involuntary disappearance. 
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1 
Any failure on his/her part, whether done with deliberate intent or negligence to avert an act of 
2 
enforced or involuntary disappearance shall be taken as evidence of conspiracy. 
3 
SECTION 13. Penal Provisions. - (A) The penalty of reclusion perpetua shall be 
4 
imposed upon the following persons: 
5 
(1) Those who directly committed the act of enforced or involuntary 
6 . 
disappearance; 
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(2) Those who directly' forced, instigated, encouraged or induced others to 
8 
commit the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance; 
9 
(3) Those who cooperated in the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance by 
10 
committing another act without which the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance 
11 
would not have been carried out; 
12 
(4) Those officials who allowed the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance 
13 
when it is within their power to stop the commission of such act; 
14 
(5) Those who cooperated in the execution of the act of enforced or involuntary 
15 
disappearance by previous or simultaneous acts. 
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(B) The penalty of reclusion temporal shall be imposed upon those who attempt to 
17 
commit the offense of enforced or involuntary disappearance. 
18 
(C) The penalty of reclusion t'emporal shall also be imposed upon the persons who, 
19 
having knowledge of the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance, and without having 
20 
participated therein, either as participants or accomplices, took part subsequent to its commission 
21 
in any ofthe following manners: 
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(l) By themselves profiting from or assisting the offender to profit from the 
23 
effects of the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance; 
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(2) By concealing the· act of enforced or involuntary disappearance, and/or 
25 
destroying the effects or instruments thereof, in order to prevent its discovery; 
26 
(3) By harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the principal(s) in the 
27 
act of enforced or involuntary disappearance, provided the accessory acts are done with 
28 
the abuse of the official's public flllctions. 
4 


CD) The penalty of prision corei:cional shall be imposed against any person who defies, 
2 
ignores, or unduly delays compliance with a habeas corpus or writ of amparo proceeding filed 
3 
on behalf of the victim of enforced or involuntary disappearance or to immediately follow or 
4 
comply with an order of release by virtue of such proceeding or other appropriate judicial order. 
5 
CE) The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed against any person who violates the 
6 
provisions of Sections 6, 7, 8 and 9 of this Act. 
7 
SECTION 14. Preventive Suspension. - The perpetrators of and other participants in the 
8 
commission of enforced or involuntary disappearance shall be preventively suspended and 
9 
prohibited from performing any official duties upon the filing of the information or complaint in 
10 
the proper court until the promulgation of jUdgment. 
II 
SECTION 15. Civil Liability. - Enforced or involuntary disappearance shall render its 
12 
perpetrators and the State authoriti.es which organized, acquiesced in or tolerated such 
13 
disappearance liable under civil law. 
14 
SECTION 16. Unlawful Order. :- An order from a superior officer or a public authority 
15 
causing the commission of enforced or involuntary disappearance is unlawful and cannot be 
16 
invoked as a justifying circumstance. 
17 
SECTION 17. Continuing Offense. -
An act constituting enforced or involuntary 
18 
disappearance shall be considered a continuing offense as long as the perpetrators continue to 
19 
conceal the fate and the whereabouts of the persons who have disappeared and these facts remain 
20 
unverified. 
21 
SECTION 18. Exclusion from the Coverage of a Statute oj Limitation. - The prosecution 
22 
of persons responsible for enforced or involuntary disappearance shall not prescribe unless the 
23 
victim surfaces alive, in which case, the prescriptive period shall start to run from the date of 
24 
his/her reappearance. 
25 
SECTION. 19. Exclusion from the Coverage of Special Amnesty Law. - Persons who 
26 
have committed the act of enforced or involuntary disappearance shall not benefit from any 
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1 
special amnesty law or similar measures that will have the effect of exempting them from any 
2 
criminal proceedings and sanctions. 
3 
SECTION. 20. State's Protection. - The Slate through Its appropriate agencies shall 
4 
ensure the safety of all persons involved in the search, investigation and prosecution of enforced 
5 
or involuntary disappearance including the victims, their families, complainants, witnesses, 
6 
representatives of human rights organizations, media and legal counsel. They shall likewise be 
7 
protected from any act of intimidation or reprisal as a result of the filing of charges. Any person 
8 
committing such ill-treatment and/or acts of intimidation or reprisal shall be punished nnder 
9 
existing laws. 
10 
SECTION 21. Compensation to and/or Rehabilitation of Victims of Enforced or 
11 
Involuntary Disappearance and/or Their Next-a/Kin. - The victims of enforced of involuntary 
12 
disappearance who surfaced alive shall be entitled to monetary compensation, rehabilitation and 
13 
restitution of honor and reputation. Such restitution of honor and reputation shall include 
14 
immediate expunging or rectification of any derogatory record, information or public 
15 
declaration/statement on his/her personal circumstances, status, person, or affiliation by the 
16 
appropriate government or private agency or agencies concerned. 
17 
The next-of-kin of a victim of enforced or involuntary disappearance may also claim for 
18 
compensation as provided for under Republic Act 7309 and other relief programs of the 
19 
Government. 
20 
. The package of indemnification for both the victims and the next-of-kin shall be without 
21 
prejudice to other legal remedies that may be available to them. 
22 
In order that the nearest of kin of victims of enforced or involuntary disappearance and 
23 
the victims who surfaced alive maybe effectively reintegrated Into the mainstream of society and 
24 
in the process of development, the State through the Commission on Human Rights shall provide 
25 
them with.appropriate medical care and rehabilitation free of charge. 
26 
SECTION 22. implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within thirty (30) days from the 
27 
effectivity of this Act, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Commission on Human Rights 
6 


(CHR) and the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) shall jointly 
2 
promulgate the rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act and shall ensure 
3 
the full dissemination of the same to the public in consultation with other human rights 
4 
organizations such as the Asian Federation Against Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance, 
5 
KARAP ATAN and other human rights organizations. 
6 
SECTION 23. Monitoring of Compliance with this Act. - An Oversight Committee is 
7 
hereby created to periodically oversee the implementation of this Act. The group shall be headed 
8 
by a Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and with the following as members: an 
9 
Undersecretary of the Department of Justice, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Justice 
10 
and Human Rights, respective Chairp",rsons of the House of Representatives Committees on 
11 
Justice and Civil and Political and Human Rights and the Secretary General of the Families of 
12 
Victims ofInvoluntary Disappearance (FIND). 
13 
SECTION 24. Suppletory Applications. -The provisions of the Revised Penal Code shall 
14 
be suppletory to this Act. 
15 
SECTION 25. Appropriations. - The funds necessary for the effective implementation of 
16 
this Act shall be sourced from the contingent fund of the President for fiscal year in which this 
17 
Act is passed and subsequently included in the budget of the Commission on Human Rights 
18 
under the General Appropriations Act of the year following the passage of this Act. 
19 
SECTION 26. Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Fund. - In addition to the funding 
20 
sources provided for in the preceding section, two percent (2%) of the filing fees in civil cases 
21 
and special proceedings before all courts, including the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, 
22 
shall be collected to constitute an enforoed or involuntary disappearance fund. 
23 
SECTION 27. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is declared invalid, the 
24 
remainder thereof not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect. 
7 


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SECTION 28. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and 
2 
regulations and other issuances or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are 
3 
hereby repealed or modified accordingly. 
4 
SECTION 29. Effectivity. -
This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
5 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved. 
8