REPUBLIC ACT NO.

10353

AN ACT DEFINING
ANDPENALIZING
ENFORCED
ORINVOLUNTARY
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 "Anti-Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 3.Definitions.For purposes of this Act,
the following terms shall be defined as follows:

(a)Agents of the Staterefer 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
disappearancerefers 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 Battlerefers 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
 (d)Victimrefers 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.
 SEC. 4.Non derogability 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 6.Right ofAccessto
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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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
 (1) 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 12.Immediate Issuance and Compliance
of the Writs of Habeas Corpus, Amparo and
Habeas Data. All proceedings pertaining to
the issuance of the writs ofhabeas corpus,
amparoandhabeas datashall 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
SEC. 15.Penal Provisions. (a) The penalty
ofreclusion perpetuaand 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 ofreclusion temporaland 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 ofreclusion temporaland 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 ofprision correctionaland 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 ofhabeas corpus, amparoandhabeas dataor
their respective proceedings.
(e) The penalty ofarresto mayorand 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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 ofDesaparecidosfor
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.
SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
SEC. 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.
 SEC. 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.
SEC. 33.Effectivity Clause. This Act shall
take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in at least two (2) newspapers
of general circulation or theOfficial
Gazette,which shall not be later than
seven (7) days after the approval thereof.