We at Karapatan
Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights – Philippines express our full
support and solidarity with the peoples’ lawyers in the Philippines in their
call to stop the attacks against human rights lawyers and to render justice to
the lawyers who were ruthlessly killed and those who became subjects of attacks
because of their work and advocacies as peoples’ lawyers.
We at Karapatan
Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights – Philippines express our full
support and solidarity with the peoples’ lawyers in the Philippines in their
call to stop the attacks against human rights lawyers and to render justice to
the lawyers who were ruthlessly killed and those who became subjects of attacks
because of their work and advocacies as peoples’ lawyers.
We laud the
tireless efforts of peoples’ lawyers in the Philippines led by the National
Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) in bringing to fore the issues concerning the continuing
attacks against lawyers, as well as on the rights of the marginalised and
oppressed sectors in society. We thank the European Association of Lawyers for
Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH), the European Democratic Lawyers
(AED-EDL), and the European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE), who are working
with the NUPL in highlighting the attacks against lawyers in the Philippines in
today’s "Day of the Endangered Lawyer."
Peoples’
lawyers have been standing side by side with the poor and oppressed in the
Philippines – the very reason why they are harassed, surveilled, intimidated
and worse, killed.
Constantly surveilled
and intimidated by the military, Atty. Juvy Magsino, who was then incumbent
Vice Mayor of Naujan Mindoro Oriental and acting Secretary General of
Karapatanwas shot on February 13, 2004 by men from the 204th Infantry Battalion
of the Philippine Army headed by the notorious Gen. Jovito “The Butcher” Palparan.
Magsino criticized the presence and operations of military troops in the
province which resulted to numerous cases of human rights violations.
In March 14,
2005, Tacloban City-based lawyer Atty. Felidito Dacut, a member of Bayan Muna
and legal counsel of Katungod-Eastern Visayas, a local chapter of Karapatan,
was killed by an unknown gunman shortly after he came from a meeting. Atty. Dacut
was another victim of the US-backed counter insurgency programOplan Bantay Laya
of former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and of suspected military men under
the command of Gen. Palparan.
In 2009,
at the height of the campaign calling for the ouster of former Pres. Arroyo,
respected activist and trade union lawyer RemigioSaladero, along with 71
leaders of Karapatan and other people’s organizations from the Southern Tagalog
Region, were spuriously charged with fabricated crimes meant to harass and
silence them. Saladero was illegally arrested and, for three months, he was
incarcerated at the Calapan City Provincial Jail. He was soon released after
the strong campaign at the national and international levels and the dismissal
of the charges against him and the other activists because of lack of evidence.
Under
the BS Aquino presidency, the attacks against peoples’ lawyers continue. Atty.
Rodolfo Felicio, who was represented the poor peasants in many land dispute
cases in Rizal Province and supported human rights group in many search and
factfinding missions, was killed by unknown perpetrators in August 24,
2014. He is also one of the prosecution
lawyers in the kidnap, torture and murder of trade union leader Rolando Olalia
and his driver Leonor Alay-ay in 1986. His involvement in human rights cases is
believed to be the reason for his killing.
Atty.
Catherine Salucon was also harassed and surveilled by the military for his
involvement in human rights cases. Salucon recently sought for protection
through a petition for the Writ of Amparo filed before the Supreme Court. Her
paralegal, William Bugatti who is also a coordinator of Karapatan, was gunned
down by state security forces on March 25 2014, after he and Atty. Salucon
attended a court hearing on cases against political prisoners.
Such
attacks against peoples’ lawyers continue and the rights violations against the
Filipino people continue under the anti-poor, repressive and US-backed regime
of BS Aquino. As of December 2014, Karapatan has documented 229 victims of
extrajudicial killing, 225 cases of frustrated killing, 106 torture victims,
nearly a thousand victims of illegal arrest, and more than 46,000 victims of
forcible evacuation.Karapatan believes that such violations occur because of
the US-inspired OplanBayanihan of the Aquino administration, which is similar
to all US-crafted counter-insurgency programs.
Karapatan strongly condemns the continuous attacks
against lawyers, human rights defenders and the people. An individual or a
collective political belief and pursuance of causes, especially as just as
theat of the peoples’ lawyers and their clients they represent – the poor and
marginalised – should not and can never be reasonable grounds for such heinous
violations inflicted upon them. The climate of impunity in the Philippine justice system must end and
the perpetrators of these gruesome murders and abuses must be brought to
justice.###