"The complainants bring the instant action in order to finally address a continuing wrong, to vindicate their basic rights, and to remind public officials that illegal, improper, unjust and oppressive acts and utterances, especially those vicious and virulent, are not without consequence. We also just want to do our work as lawyers,” the complaint read.
“The subtext of our legal submissions is that hers is a case of patent abuse of authority by the state — of a negotiated procurement of defective search warrants; of a crackdown not on crime, but on legitimate dissent; of an oft recycled charge of illegal possession of firearms and explosives lodged against activists filed not on the basis of fact and evidence, but on the convenience of the unavailability of posting bail as a matter of right.”
The Anti-Terrorism Act violates international standards on human rights and countering-terrorism with its vague and overboard definitions of “terrorism” as well as the excessive powers it grants to the Executive branch of the government.
"We must always remember, that the nobility of every profession comes, not with the title that is prefixed in our names, but in how we use it to serve those who have less, those who have nothing, those who have to suffer every ounce of injustice and indignity.”
UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard urged UN member States to “apply sanctions against Filipino officials who have committed, who have incited, or who have failed to investigate or prevent human rights violations including arbitrary killings.”
“We assert that the Visiting Forces Agreement, which has enabled and exacerbated injustice for Jennifer Laude to the greatest extent and which continue to serve as Duterte’s offerings in his ploy for continued US subservience, must be finally abolished to bring justice for our slain sister.”
“We are against terrorism but the law [against terrorism] should not violate human rights and the Philippine Constitution.”
The National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL), counsel for Anakbayan, lambasted the NTF-ELCAC “for capitalizing on a familial conflict and turning it into a witch-hunt for members of Anakbayan and the Kabataan Partylist, which are legitimate organizations advancing the Filipino youth’s aspirations for national democracy.”
"The NTC’s Order has preempted Congressional action in this area exclusively reserved to it by the Constitution and is an exercise of discretion that gravely upsets the constitutional architecture and design.”
“The humane treatment of persons under detention and their release from prison in the midst of a raging pandemic are in consonance with international laws, among them the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which the Philippines is a state party.”
“This only confirms the state as de facto populist, not to mention, macho strongman authoritarianism.”
“I urge the lawyers here to continue genuinely fighting for the people. Ben would always say there is nothing wrong with organizing and there is nothing wrong in defending the oppressed."
A human rights lawyer based in Roxas City survived an ambush attack late morning today, Sept. 22, after attending a hearing.
"How many more lawyers and human rights defenders need to be killed, vilified, harassed, threatened and labelled before the dots are connected?"
"From Day 1, the respondents only issued general denials, resorting to technicalities instead of answering our petition."
NUPL President Edre Olalia pointed out that Duterte himself publicly threatened human rights defenders and all supposed communist fronts.
“Labeling, discrediting, threatening, and attacking lawyers are against the basic principles of lawyering, the State’s duty to protect them and the delivery of justice.”
“If the government doesn’t want us to give services to victims of human rights violations, that is no justification to open us to attacks.”
“Why is the president putting much more store into this foreign intelligence body than that of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) which denied there was such an Oust Duterte plot?”
A community of readers and supporters that help us sustain our operations through microdonations for as low as $1.