{"id":12713,"date":"2026-02-20T06:55:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T05:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/?p=12713"},"modified":"2026-02-19T12:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:08:26","slug":"amanda-echanis-freed-after-five-years-james-jazmines-declared-victim-of-enforced-disappearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/amanda-echanis-freed-after-five-years-james-jazmines-declared-victim-of-enforced-disappearance\/","title":{"rendered":"Amanda Echanis freed after five years; James Jazmines declared victim of enforced disappearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Student leader and peasant organizer Amanda Echanis has been released<\/a> from detention after five years following her acquittal by the Tuguegarao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.<\/p>\n

In a decision<\/a> dated December 27, 2025 and made public on January 14, 2026, Judge Racquel Reyes-Aglaua ruled<\/a> that the prosecution failed to prove Echanis\u2019 guilt beyond reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n

Echanis was arrested<\/a> in the early hours of December 2, 2020, in Baggao, Cagayan, months after the killing of her father, peasant leader and peace consultant Randall \u201cKa Randy\u201d Echanis.<\/p>\n

Zoe Caballero, legal counsel for Echanis, said<\/a> the court\u2019s acquittal highlighted serious procedural lapses in the police operation that led to her arrest. The court ruled<\/a> that the search warrant was illegally executed, noting that the lawful occupant was not present, there was a three-hour delay before the search, and evidence could have been planted.<\/p>\n

Police failed<\/a> to document the search properly and the prosecution could not prove Echanis had possession of the alleged firearms and explosives.<\/p>\n

In a related development, the Court of Appeals recognized<\/a> activist James Jazmines<\/a> as a victim of enforced disappearance and granted his wife, Cora Jazmines, the writs of Amparo and Habeas Data that she requested<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

The Writ of Amparo is a legal protection issued<\/a> when a person\u2019s life, liberty, or security is violated or threatened, often in cases of enforced disappearances or extrajudicial killings.<\/p>\n

The Court\u2019s 12th division ruled<\/a> that Cora provided substantial evidence proving her husband\u2019s disappearance fits the legal definition of enforced disappearance.<\/p>\n

The ruling<\/a>, dated October 27, 2025, and made public also on January 14, 2026, held Armed Forces Chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. and former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Marbil responsible for failing<\/a> to act with \u201cextraordinary diligence\u201d in investigating Jazmines\u2019 disappearance on August 24, 2023, in Tabaco City, Albay.<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeals found<\/a> Brawner and Marbil \u201cresponsible and accountable\u201d for Jazmines\u2019 abduction on August 24, 2023.<\/p>\n

Desparacidos, an organization of families of enforced disappearance victims, said<\/a> the granting of protective writs confirms State accountability. Its chairperson, JL Burgos, stressed<\/a> that authorities must now locate James Jazmines, investigate his disappearance, and hold the perpetrators accountable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo \u00a9 Raffy Lerma<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student leader and peasant organizer Amanda Echanis has been released from detention after five years following her acquittal by the Tuguegarao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. In a decision dated December 27, 2025 and made public on January 14, 2026, Judge Racquel Reyes-Aglaua ruled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73,63,58,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aktuelles-en","category-human-rights-defenders","category-human-rights-news","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12713"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12724,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12713\/revisions\/12724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}