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An Attack on Any Lawyer is an Attack on the Legal Profession And on Human Rights

National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers ( NUPL ) –PHILIPPINES: by Edre Olalia , Deputy Secretary General for International Solidarity Work Haldane Society Lecture: " DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN COLOMBIA AND THE PHILIPPINES ". 10 December 2009, College of Law, 14 Store Street, London.

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An Attack on Any Lawyer is an Attack on the Legal Profession And on Human Rights

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  1. National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers ( NUPL ) –PHILIPPINES: by EdreOlalia, Deputy Secretary General for International Solidarity Work Haldane Society Lecture: "DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN COLOMBIA AND THE PHILIPPINES". 10 December 2009, College of Law, 14 Store Street, London An Attack on Any Lawyer is an Attack on the Legal Profession And on Human Rights

  2. Who are we and what do we do?

  3. Tagged as Communist • Placed on Order of Battle • Placed Under Surveillance • Torching of Vehicles • Mysterious Calls • Grave Threats • Threats of Physical Harm • Ransacking and Raiding of Offices • Warrantless Arrests • Death Threats • Attempted Homicide • Attempted Assassination • Extrajudicially Killed How are we attacked?

  4. We just lost two of our most vocal and courageous members in the Maguindanao massacre last November 23, 2009. ATTY. CONCEPCION BRIZUELA ATTY. CYNTHIA OQUENDO

  5. Counsel for progressive organizations, local vice mayor, vocal against military abuses and mining projects causing damage to the people. • Shot and peppered with bullets on February 2004 while driving together with a human rights advocate Killed: Atty. Juvy Magsino

  6. Private lawyer prosecuting a parricide case against a cult leader belonging to a powerful family. • Shot October 2004 inside her own home. Killed: Atty. Arbet Yongco

  7. Counsel for labor unions and progressive organizations. • Shot March 2005 while inside a passenger jeepney on his way to buy milk for his 3-year old daughter. Killed: Atty. Felidito Dacut

  8. Trial court judge handling a controversial case against the government over an anomalous airport project. Formerly active in counseling for peoples’ organizations. • Gunned down on New Year’s Eve 2005 while on his way home. Killed: Judge Henrick Gingoyon

  9. Former local public official, former bar president, professor and legal counsel of progressive party-list groups and peoples’ organizations. • Gunned down December 2006, by four armed men on board two motorcycles. Killed: Atty. Gil Gojol

  10. Threat, Harassment, Intimidation, and Surveillance • Under close surveillance since December 2007. • Represents soldiers who are facing charges for alleged failed uprisings against Arroyo in 2003 and 2006. Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles

  11. Threat, Harassment, Surveillance, and Labeling • Accused as a member of the New People’s Army. • Became less active for security reasons when army general notorious for killings was assigned in their area. His three guard dogs were fatally poisoned. Atty. Emil Bermas

  12. Assassination Attempts, Harassment, Surveillance, and Labeling • Judge ad litem for the United Nations International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; foremost human rights lawyer in the Philippines handling several high-profile cases. • Subjected to four separate assassination attempts Judge Romeo T. Capulong

  13. Threat, Harassment, Intimidation, and Surveillance • Has been under surveillance, threatened, and harassed by military agents since 2005. • Human rights, criminal, and peasant lawyer who handles most human rights cases in a region in southern Philippines. Atty. Emiliano Deleverio

  14. Harassment and Surveillance • Received death threats and has been put under surveillance. • Human rights lawyer and legal counsel of a human rights organization and high profile cases of the disappeared and tortured Atty. Rex Fernandez

  15. Harassment and Surveillance • Harassed and put under surveillance by suspected state agents. • Represented the survivors of a massacre of peasants by the military. Atty. Alberto Hidalgo

  16. Harassment, Labeling, and Surveillance • Under surveillance for the past two years by suspected military agents; named in the military’s Order of Battle. • Labor Arbiter and works with several mass and peoples’ organizations Atty. Beverly Musni

  17. Surveillance and Labeling • Periodically under surveillance by suspected state agents, and linked to the communists. • Human rights, international humanitarian law, and criminal lawyer; handles cases of the marginalized sectors, political prisoners, and rights victims. Atty. Edre Olalia

  18. Harassment, Intimidation, Surveillance, and Labeling • Subjected to surveillance, harassment, and intimidation by state agents. • Human rights lawyer, providing free legal services to farmers, fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples. Atty. Jobert Pahilga

  19. Threats, Harassment, Surveillance, and Labeling • Experienced different forms of harassment such as labeling, death threats, abduction of one of his security officers, and surveillance by suspected police and military agents. • Human rights and criminal lawyer since 1972. Atty. Tirsendo Poloyapoy

  20. Harassment, Intimidation, and Surveillance • Experienced surveillance, harassment, and intimidation by state agents. • Handles about 700 labor cases, providing free legal services to workers. Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center (PLACE)

  21. Threats, Harassment, and Intimidation • Has been receiving death threats via his mobile phone. • Has been vocal against various government corruption scandals and handles the class suit filed by journalists against the husband of President Arroyo Atty. Harry Roque

  22. Threats, Harassment, and Labeling • Received death threats from suspected military agents. • Labeled as a lawyer for the New Peoples’ Army by the military Atty. Robert Tudayan

  23. Threats, Harassment, Surveillance, Labeling, and False Charges • Arrested and detained for months and charged with a string of criminal charges, and labeled as member of the NPA by the military. • One of the lawyers of a labor law office, a labor union and a party-list group Atty. Remegio Saladero

  24. Harassment, and Labeling • Secretary General of NUPL and member of People First partylist in Congress • Labeled and harassed by suspected military elements. Included in the Order of Battle of the military, and falsely implicated in the crime of multiple murder. Atty. Neri Javier Colmenares

  25. Assassination Attempts • Was fired at with eight shots, but was hit by only two non-fatal shots. • Served as counsel to striking workers and legal adviser of a local human rights group. Atty. Charles Juloya

  26. Harassment • His law office was staked out for successive days by four suspicious-looking men. Atty. Cyril Yap

  27. Assassination Attempts, Labeling • His law office was cased by unidentified men who took pictures . • Named in the military Order of Battle. Atty. Carlos Isagani Zarate

  28. January 2001-December 2009 Number of Lawyers Killed 2001 to present 24 (8 of which are human rights lawyers) Number of Judges Killed 15 Number of Paralegals, Law Students Killed 03 Number of Lawyers Attacked 56 Number of Human Rights Lawyers Attacked 48 Incidents of Reported Killings or Attacks on Philippine Lawyers and Judges

  29. January 2001-December 2009 Lawyers and judges who survived attempted slay 05 Lawyers and judges who received death threats 17 Victims of Labeling/Included in the Military’s Order of Battle (OB) 19 Lawyers and judges under surveillance 15 Incidents of Reported Killings or Attacks on Philippine Lawyers and Judges

  30. Why are we being attacked? Political, Economic and Social Context

  31. Political, Economic and Social Context of the Attacks

  32. Political, Economic and Social Context of the Attacks

  33. The climate of impunity has victimized farmers, workers, indigenous peoples, migrants, activists, journalists, church people and other sectors. According to the human rights group Karapatan, there are now 1118 victims of extrajudicial killings, 204 disappeared, 1,026 tortured and 1,932 illegally arrested since 2001 when Arroyo came to power.

  34. Of these numbers, 460 are human rights defenders who have been killed including 36 human rights workers. 68 of the disappeared and 543 of those illegally arrested are human rights defenders.

  35. The unresolved killings and continuing attacks on lawyers and judges are assaults on the legal profession, the rule of law and the system of justice. These attacks violate national and international law. A considerable number of victimized lawyers either are counsels of or belong to perceived enemies of the State. Authorities have not done enough; Government is allowing the killings to continue because they involve dissenters and critics

  36. The Need for Continuing International Concern and Solidarity The Philippines has become one of the most dangerous places for lawyers and judges in the world since there are very few countries where lawyers and judges are brutally  murdered  and continuously attacked in various forms and where the real perpetrators have not been held accountable to this very day.  The climate of impunity pervades. There is a need to defend the defenders themselves.

  37. We will fight for our clients. We will defend the victims. We shall seek justice. We shall continue the struggle with the people.

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