MANILA - The Court of Appeals denied the request of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers for protection against alleged threats and intimidation from state security forces.

The CA dismissed NUPL's petition for writ of amparo and habeas data, which are remedies available to those whose life, liberty, and security are violated or threatened to be violated by a public official or a private entity.

“Guided by the foregoing, we hold that the individual petitioners failed to substantially prove that their life, liberty, and security are threatened with violation," the decision read.

The petitioners also failed to show how their right to privacy was violated "given that their names, membership and particular position in or affiliation with NUPL...are already of public knowledge and readily accessible even to civilians," the court said.

NUPL members had claimed their lives were in danger because of government statements linking them to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New Peoples’ Army (NPA).

The group's president, Edre Olalia, said the court's decision was "not really surprising."

"It only strengthens impressions that amparo as a legal remedy has time and time again failed expectations of victims for immediate and judicial protection," he said.

"How many more lawyers and human rights defenders need to be killed, vilified, harassed, threatened and labelled before the dots are connected?"

Olalia said the NUPL would appeal the CA's decision before the Supreme Court.

• Supreme Court grants lawyers' bid for protection vs state forces

--With reports from Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News