REPUBLIC ACT NO.

10353
AN ACT DEFINING AND PENALIZING ENFORCED OR
INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCE
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known as the "AntiEnforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012.
Section 2. Declaration of Policy. The State values the dignity of
every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights
for which highest priority shall be given to the enactment of
measures for the enhancement of the right of all people to human
dignity, the prohibition against secret detention places, solitary
confinement, incommunicado, or other similar forms of detention,
the provision for penal and civil sanctions for such violations, and
compensation and rehabilitation for the victims and their families,
particularly with respect to the use of torture, force, violence,
threat, intimidation or any other means which vitiate the free will
of persons abducted, arrested, detained, disappeared or
otherwise removed from the effective protection of the law.
Furthermore, the State adheres to the principles and standards on
the absolute condemnation of human rights violations set by the
1987 Philippine Constitution and various international instruments
such as, but not limited to, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Convention Against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(CAT), to which the Philippines is a State party.
Section 3. Definitions. For purposes of this Act, the following
terms shall be defined as follows:

(a) Agents of the State refer to persons who, by direct

provision of the law, popular election or appointment by
competent authority, shall take part in the performance of
public functions in the government, or shall perform in the
government or in any of its branches public duties as an
employee, agent or subordinate official, of any rank or class.
(b) Enforced or involuntary disappearance refers to the
arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation
of liberty committed by agents of the State or by persons or
groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or
acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to
acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of
the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which
places such person outside the protection of the law.
(c) Order of Battle refers to a document made by the
military, police or any law enforcement agency of the
government, listing the names of persons and organizations
that it perceives to be enemies of the State and which it
considers as legitimate targets as combatants that it could
deal with, through the use of means allowed by domestic
and international law.
(d) Victim refers to the disappeared person and any
individual who has suffered harm as a direct result of an
enforced or involuntary disappearance as defined in letter
(b) of this Section.
Section 4. Nonderogability of the Right Against Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearance. The right against enforced or
involuntary disappearance and the fundamental safeguards for its
prevention shall not be suspended under any circumstance
including political instability, threat of war, state of war or other
public emergencies.

Section 5. "Order of Battle" or Any Order of Similar Nature, Not

Legal Ground, for Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance. An
"Order of Battle" or any order of similar nature, official or
otherwise, from a superior officer or a public authority causing the
commission of enforced or involuntary disappearance is unlawful
and cannot be invoked as a justifying or exempting circumstance.
Any person receiving such an order shall have the right to disobey
it.
Section 6. Right of Access to Communication. It shall be the
absolute right of any person deprived of liberty to have
immediate access to any form of communication available in
order for him or her to inform his or her family, relative, friend,
lawyer or any human rights organization on his or her
whereabouts and condition.
Section 7. Duty to Report Victims of Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearance. Any person, not being a principal, accomplice or
accessory, who has an information of a case of enforced or
involuntary disappearance or who shall learn of such information
or that a person is a victim of enforced or involuntary
disappearance, shall immediately report in writing the
circumstances and whereabouts of the victim to any office,
detachment or division of the Department of the Interior and
Local Government (DILG), the Department of National Defense
(DND), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of
the Philippines (AFP), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI),
the City or Provincial Prosecutor, the Commission on Human
Rights (CHR) or any human rights organization and, if known, the
victims family, relative, or lawyer.
Section 8. Duty to Certify in Writing on the Results of Inquiry into
a Reported Disappeared Persons Whereabouts. In case a family
member, relative, lawyer, representative of a human rights
organization or a member of the media inquires with a member or

official of any police or military detention center, the PNP or any

of its agencies, the AFP or any of its agencies, the NBI or any
other agency or instrumentality of the government, as well as any
hospital or morgue, public or private, on the presence or
whereabouts of a reported victim of enforced or involuntary
disappearance, such member or official shall immediately issue a
certification in writing to the inquiring person or entity on the
presence or absence and/or information on the whereabouts of
such disappeared person, stating, among others, in clear and
unequivocal manner the date and time of inquiry, details of the
inquiry and the response to the inquiry.
Section 9. Duty of Inquest/Investigating Public Prosecutor or any
Judicial or Quasi-Judicial Official or Employee. Any inquest or
investigating public prosecutor, or any judicial or quasi-judicial
official or employee who learns that the person delivered for
inquest or preliminary investigation or for any other judicial
process is a victim of enforced or involuntary disappearance shall
have the duty to immediately disclose the victims whereabouts
to his or her immediate family, relatives, lawyer/s or to a human
rights organization by the most expedient means.
Section 10. Official Up-to-Date Register of All Persons Detained
or Confined. - All persons detained or confined shall be placed
solely in officially recognized and controlled places of detention or
confinement where an official up-to-date register of such persons
shall be maintained. Relatives, lawyers, judges, official bodies and
all persons who have legitimate interest in the whereabouts and
condition of the persons deprived of liberty shall have free access
to the register.
The following details, among others, shall be recorded, in the
register:

(a) The identity or name, description and address of the

person deprived of liberty;
(b) The date, time and location where the person was
deprived of liberty and the identity of the person who made
such deprivation of liberty;
(c) The authority who decided the deprivation of liberty and
the reasons for the deprivation of liberty or the crime or
offense committed;
(d) The authority controlling the deprivation of liberty;
(e) The place of deprivation of liberty, the date and time of
admission to the place of deprivation of liberty and the
authority responsible for the place of deprivation of liberty;
(f) Records of physical, mental and psychological condition of
the detained or confined person before and after the
deprivation of liberty and the name and address of the
physician who examined him or her physically, mentally and
medically;
(g) The date and time of release or transfer of the detained
or confined person to another place of detention, the
destination and the authority responsible for the transfer;
(h) The date and time of each removal of the detained or
confined person from his or her cell, the reason or purpose
for such removal and the date and time of his or her return
to his or her cell;
(i) A summary of the physical, mental and medical findings
of the detained or confined person after each interrogation;

(j) The names and addresses of the persons who visit the
detained or confined person and the date and time of such
visits and the date and time of each departure;
(k) In the event of death during the deprivation of liberty, the
identity, the circumstances and cause of death of the victim
as well as the destination of the human remains; and
(l) All other important events bearing on and all relevant
details regarding the treatment of the detained or confined
person.
Provided, That the details required under letters (a) to (f) shall be
entered immediately in the register upon arrest and/or detention.
All information contained in the register shall be regularly or upon
request reported to the CHR or any other agency of government
tasked to monitor and protect human rights and shall be made
available to the public.
Section 11. Submission of List of Government Detention
Facilities. Within six (6) months from the effectivity of this Act
and as may be requested by the CHR thereafter, all government
agencies concerned shall submit an updated inventory or list of all
officially recognized and controlled detention or confinement
facilities, and the list of detainees or persons deprived of liberty
under their respective jurisdictions to the CHR.
Section 12. Immediate Issuance and Compliance of the Writs of
Habeas Corpus, Amparo and Habeas Data. All proceedings
pertaining to the issuance of the writs of habeas corpus, amparo
and habeas data shall be dispensed with expeditiously. As such,
all courts and other concerned agencies of government shall give
priority to such proceedings.

Moreover, any order issued or promulgated pursuant to such writs

or their respective proceedings shall be executed and complied
with immediately.
Section 13. Visitation /Inspection of Places of Detention and,
Confinement. The CHR or its duly authorized representatives are
hereby mandated and authorized to conduct regular,
independent, unannounced and unrestricted visits to or inspection
of all places of detention and confinement.
Section 14. Liability of Commanding Officer or Superior. - The
immediate commanding officer of the unit concerned of the AFP
or the immediate senior official of the PNP and other law
enforcement agencies shall be held liable as a principal to the
crime of enforced or involuntary disappearance for acts
committed by him or her that shall have led, assisted, abetted or
allowed, whether directly or indirectly, the commission thereof by
his or her subordinates. If such commanding officer has
knowledge of or, owing to the circumstances at the time, should
have known that an enforced or involuntary disappearance is
being committed, or has been committed by subordinates or by
others within the officers area of responsibility and, despite such
knowledge, did not take preventive or coercive action either
before, during or immediately after its commission, when he or
she has the authority to prevent or investigate allegations of
enforced or involuntary disappearance but failed to prevent or
investigate such allegations, whether deliberately or due to
negligence, shall also be held liable as principal.
Section 15. Penal Provisions. (a) The penalty of reclusion
perpetua and its accessory penalties shall be imposed upon the
following persons:
(1) Those who directly committed the act of enforced or
involuntary disappearance;

(2) Those who directly forced, instigated, encouraged or

induced others to commit the act of enforced or involuntary
disappearance;
(3) Those who cooperated in the act of enforced or
involuntary disappearance by committing another act
without which the act of enforced or involuntary
disappearance would not have been consummated;
(4) Those officials who allowed the act or abetted in the
consummation of enforced or involuntary disappearance
when it is within their power to stop or uncover the
commission thereof; and
(5) Those who cooperated in the execution of the act of
enforced or involuntary disappearance by previous or
simultaneous acts.
(b) The penalty of reclusion temporal and its accessory penalties
shall be imposed upon those who shall commit the act of enforced
or involuntary disappearance in the attempted stage as provided
for and defined under Article 6 of the Revised Penal Code.
(c) The penalty of reclusion temporal and its accessory penalties
shall also be imposed upon persons who, having knowledge of the
act of enforced or involuntary disappearance and without having
participated therein, either as principals or accomplices, took part
subsequent to its commission in any of the following manner:
(1) By themselves profiting from or assisting the offender to
profit from the effects of the act of enforced or involuntary
disappearance;
(2) By concealing the act of enforced or involuntary
disappearance and/or destroying the effects or instruments
thereof in order to prevent its discovery; or

(3) By harboring, concealing or assisting in the escape of the

principal/s in the act of enforced or involuntary
disappearance, provided such accessory acts are done with
the abuse of official functions.
(d) The penalty of prision correctional and its accessory penalties
shall be imposed against persons who defy, ignore or unduly
delay compliance with any order duly issued or promulgated
pursuant to the writs of habeas corpus, amparo and habeas data
or their respective proceedings.
(e) The penalty of arresto mayor and its accessory penalties shall
be imposed against any person who shall violate the provisions of
Sections 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of this Act.
Section 16. Preventive Suspension/Summary Dismissal.
Government officials and personnel who are found to be
perpetrators of or participants in any manner in the commission
of enforced or involuntary disappearance as a result of a
preliminary investigation conducted for that purpose shall be
preventively suspended or summarily dismissed from the service,
depending on the strength of the evidence so presented and
gathered in the said preliminary investigation or as may be
recommended by the investigating authority.
Section 17. Civil Liability. The act of enforced or involuntary
disappearance shall render its perpetrators and the State
agencies which organized, acquiesced in or tolerated such
disappearance liable under civil law.
Section 18. Independent Liability. The criminal liability of the
offender under this Act shall be independent of or without
prejudice to the prosecution and conviction of the said offender
for any violation of Republic Act No. 7438, otherwise known as
"An Act Defining Certain Rights of Person Arrested, Detained or
Under Custodial Investigation as well as the Duties of the

Arresting, Detaining, and Investigating Officers, and Providing

Penalties for Violations Thereof; Republic Act No. 9745, otherwise
known as "An Act Penalizing Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Prescribing
Penalties Therefor"; and applicable provisions of the Revised Penal
Code.
Section 19. Nonexclusivity or Double Jeopardy Under
International Law. Any investigation, trial and decision in any
Philippines court, or body for any violation of this Act shall; be
without prejudice to any investigation, trial, decision or any other
legal or administrative process before any appropriate
international court or agency under applicable international
human rights and humanitarian law.
Section 20. Exemption from Prosecution. Any offender who
volunteers information that leads to the discovery of the victim of
enforced or involuntary disappearance or the prosecution of the
offenders without the victim being found shall be exempt from
any criminal and/or civil liability under this Act: Provided, That
said offender does not appear to be the most guilty.
Section 21. Continuing Offense. An act constituting enforced or
involuntary disappearance shall be considered a continuing
offense as long as the perpetrators continue to conceal the fate
and whereabouts of the disappeared person and such
circumstances have not been determined with certainty.
Section 22. Statue of Limitations Exemption. The prosecution
of persons responsible for enforced or involuntary disappearance
shall not prescribe unless the victim surfaces alive. In which case,
the prescriptive period shall be twenty-five (25) years from the
date of such reappearance.
Section 23. Special Amnesty Law Exclusion. Persons who are
changed with and/or guilty of the act of enforced or involuntary

disappearance shall not benefit from any special amnesty law or

other similar executive measures that shall exempt them from
any penal proceedings or sanctions.
Section 24. State Protection The State, through its appropriate
agencies, shall ensure the safety of all persons involved in the
search, investigation and prosecution of enforced or involuntary
disappearance including, but not limited to, the victims, their
families, complainants, witnesses, legal counsel and
representatives of human rights organizations and media. They
shall likewise be protected from any intimidation or reprisal.
Section 25. Applicability of Refouler. No person shall be
expelled, returned or extradited to another State where there are
substantial grounds to believe that such person shall be in danger
of being subjected to enforced or involuntary disappearance. For
purposes of determining whether such grounds exist, the
Secretary of the Department, of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the
Secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in coordination with
the Chairperson of the CHR, shall take into account all relevant
considerations including where applicable and not limited to, the
existence in the requesting State of a consistent pattern of gross,
flagrant or mass violations of human rights.
Section 26. Restitution and Compensation to Victims of Enforced
or Involuntary Disappearance and/or Their Immediate Relatives.
The victims of enforced or involuntary disappearance who surface
alive shall be entitled to monetary compensation, rehabilitation
and restitution of honor and reputation. Such restitution of honor
and reputation shall include immediate expunging or rectification
of any derogatory record, information or public
declaration/statement on his or her person, personal
circumstances, status, and/or organizational affiliation by the
appropriate government or private agency or agencies concerned.

The immediate relatives of a victim of enforced or involuntary

disappearance, within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or
affinity, may also claim for compensation as provided for under
Republic Act No. 7309, entitled "An Act Creating a Board of Claims
under the Department of Justice for Victims of Unjust
Imprisonment or Detention and Victims of Violent Crimes and For
Other Purposes", and other relief programs of the government.
The package of indemnification for both the victims and the
immediate relatives within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity
or affinity shall be without prejudice to other legal remedies that
may be available to them.
Section 27. Rehabilitation of Victims and/or Their Immediate
Relatives, and Offenders. In order that the victims of enforced or
involuntary disappearance who surfaced alive and/or their
immediate relatives within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity
or affinity, may be effectively reintegrated into the mainstream of
society and in the process of development, the State, through the
CHR, in coordination with the Department of Health, the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the
concerned nongovernment organization/s, shall provide them with
appropriate medical care and rehabilitation free of charge.
Toward the attainment of restorative justice, a parallel
rehabilitation program for persons who have committed enforced
or involuntary disappearance shall likewise be implemented
without cost to such offenders.
Section 28. Implementing Rules and Regulations. Within thirty
(30) days from the effectivity of this Act, the DOJ, the DSWD, the
CHR, the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
and the Families of Desaparecidos for Justice (Desaparecidos), in
consultation with other human rights organizations, shall jointly
promulgate the rules and regulations for the effective

implementation of this Act and shall ensure the full dissemination

of the same to the public.
Section 29. Suppletory Applications. The applicable provisions
of the Revised Penal Code shall have suppletory application
insofar as they are consistent with the provisions of this Act.
Section 30. Appropriations. The amount of Ten million pesos
(P10,000,000.00) is hereby appropriated for the initial
implementation of this Act by the CHR. Subsequent fluids for the
continuing implementation of this Act shall be included in the
respective budgets of the CHR and the DOJ in the annual General
Appropriations Act.
Section 31. Separability Clause. If for any reason, any section or
provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional or invalid, such
other sections or provisions not affected thereby shall remain in
full force and effect.
Section 32. Repealing Clause. All laws, decrees, executive
orders, rules and regulations and other issuances or parts thereof
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed,
amended or modified accordingly.
Section 33. Effectivity Clause. This Act shall take effect fifteen
(15) days after its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of
general circulation or the Official Gazette, which shall not be later
than seven (7) days after the approval thereof.

Illustrative Case:
Attorney General v. Adolf Eichmann

Summary
The crimes perpetrated by the Nazis during Hitlers reign against
Jewish citizens were some of the worst recorded in history.
Although accurate figures may never be known, it is estimated
that some 6 million Jewish individuals died men, women, and
children from all over Europe. They were deported from their
homes in large freight trains in appalling conditions, others
starved or froze to death, others still were taken away to
concentration camps where the fit were forced to perform manual
labour whilst the weak were shot to death or later, gassed to
death in their thousands.
The Appellant, Adolf Eichmann, was an Austrian by birth who
volunteered to work for the Security Service (SD) in Berlin. He
rose through the ranks and eventually occupied the position of
Head of Section (Referant) for Jewish Affairs charged with all
matters related to the implementation of the Final Solution to the
Jewish Question. In this capacity, he oversaw the transport and
deportation of Jewish persons, set up and personally ran an
operations centre in Hungary in order to implement the Final
Solution there, organised the transfer of money from evacuated
Jews to the State and was responsible for the administration of
the camps at Terezin and Bergen-Belsen.
He was captured by Israeli Security Forces in Argentina and
handed over to the District Court of Jerusalem to stand trial for
war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the
Jewish people. He was convicted of all 15 counts and sentenced to
death by the District Court of Jerusalem. His appeal was rejected
by the Supreme Court of Israel and he was executed by hanging a
few minutes before midnight on 31 May 1962.

Procedural history
In May 1960, the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, abducted
Eichmann from his hiding place in Argentina and transferred him
to Jerusalem to face an Israeli court.
The trial commenced on 11 April 1961 with the indictment
charging Eichmann with 15 counts of crimes against the Jewish
people, crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership in
an organisation declared criminal by the International Military
Tribunal in Nuremberg 15 years earlier. On 11 December 1961,
Eichmann was convicted on all 15 counts and sentenced to death.
He appealed on both legal and factual grounds against his
conviction and sentence. On 31 January 1962 and 15 February
1962, his Counsel submitted written pleadings to the Supreme
Court.
Related developments
Eichmann was executed by hanging on 31 May 1962.
Legally relevant facts
Prior to the outbreak of World War II, the Appellant was a member
of the Austrian SS and later volunteered for a position with the
Head Office of the Security Service (SD) in Berlin (para. 59 of trial
judgment). When the SD merged with the State Secret Police
(Gestapo) to form the Head Office for Reich Security (RSHA), the
Accused occupied the role of Special Officer of Zionist Affairs
(para. 61 of trial judgment). He was transferred to Vienna in 1938
to administer the Central Office for the Emigration of Austrian
Jews (para. 64). His success was such that approximately 150,000
Austrian Jews were forced to emigrate and he was appointed head
of the new Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration in October
1939 (para. 65 of trial judgment).
From the outbreak of the War to mid-1941, the Accused devised
and carried out the mass deportation of Jewish persons from his

role as the Special Referent for Emigration and Evacuation within

the RSHA (paras. 71-75 of trial judgment) and explored the
possibility of setting up a slave Jewish state in Madagascar (para.
76 of trial judgment).
In early 1942, the Accused was appointed the Referant of the
RSHA in matters connected to the Final Solution (para. 88 of trial
judgment). In implementing the Final Solution, the Accused
received information as to the number of persons to be expelled
(para. 90 of Trial Judgement), organised the transfer of money
from evacuated Jews for the disposal of the SS (para. 91 of trial
judgment), and oversaw the handling of the transport of Jews
(para. 93 of trial judgment), not only in the Reich but also in other
countries (para. 98 of trial judgment). In particular, he headed the
Eichmann Special Operations Unit in Hungary and did his utmost
to carry out the Final Solution (para. 111 of trial judgment).
These "Transport Jews" were taken to concentration camps and
those who were unfit for hard labour were exterminated
immediately (para. 145 of trial judgment).
In autumn 1942, a cover up effort was begun as bodies in mass
graves were burned in an effort to hide the slaughter (para. 148
of trial judgment). The concentration camps were evacuated
(para. 149 of trial judgment) the Accused in particular was
responsible for all administrative matters connected with the
Terezin Ghetto (para. 152 of trial judgment) and the camp at
Bergen-Belsen (para. 153 of trial judgment).
Core legal questions
Is the Law of 1950 contrary to the principle of nonretroactivity of criminal law or to the principle of territorial
sovereignty?
Does the Law of 1950 conflict with the principle of territorial
sovereignty?

 Can the Appellant rely on the Act of State doctrine to excuse

his criminal responsibility?
Specific legal rules and provisions
Sections 1(a)(1),(2),(3), 1(b) and 8 of the Nazis and Nazi
Collaborators (Punishment) Law.
Court's holding and analysis
There is no rule of general customary international law, which
prohibits the enactment of retroactive penal legislation.
Furthermore, the argument that to punish an individual for
conduct which was not yet criminal at the time of its commission
would be unethical loses its force in face of the odious crimes
committed by the Appellant. The Appellants contention that the
Law of 1950 is therefore contrary to the principle of nonretroactivity and cannot therefore apply to the Appellant is
rejected (para. 8).
There is no rule of general customary international law that the
principle of territorial sovereignty prohibits the enactment of a
criminal law applicable to extra-territorial crimes committed by a
foreign national. The Appellants second ground of appeal must
also be rejected (para. 9).
These findings are reinforced by positive international law: the
crimes for which the Appellant was convicted were international
crimes under international law entailing individual criminal
responsibility at the time that they were committed (para. 11),
and their universal character is such that each State is vested
with the power to try and punish anyone who assisted in their
commission (para. 12).
Finally, the Appellant contends that his crimes were Acts of the
State, the responsibility for which rests with the State alone and
another State has no right to punish the person who committed

the act, save with the consent of the state whose mission he
carried out. This ground of appeal was rejected by the Supreme
Court as there is no basis for applying the doctrine to acts
prohibited by international law, particularly in cases of such
heinous international crimes. This was affirmed by the
International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (para. 14).

Source:
http://www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org/Case/185/Eichmann/