The Supreme Court recently promulgated the much-anticipated Rule on the Writ of Habeas Data, both as an independent remedy to enforce the right to informational privacy and the complementary “right to truth” as well as an additional remedy to protect the right to life, liberty, or security of a person. The Rule takes effect on February 2, Constitution Day.

Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno had previously expressed his fervent hope “that with the help of the writ of habeas corpus, the writ of amparo, and the writ of habeas data, we can finally bring to a close the problem of extralegal killings and enforced disappearances in our country, spectral remains of the Martial Law regime.” > MORE