Legal experts ask Supreme Court to act on killings of 54 lawyers under Duterte s watch
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 22) More than 70 lawyers ran to the Supreme Court on Tuesday to demand immediate action to stop violence against law practitioners, with 54 killed in the past four years.
Law school deans, former lawmakers, and ex-government officials trooped to the high court with a letter addressed to Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta to seek his help in prodding the Executive branch to solve these murders and protect other practitioners from harm. There have been at least 54 lawyers and judges who have become victims of extrajudicial killings and violent crimes since 2016 and we fear that the state of impunity in the country today will further fuel the spate of killings, not just against members of the legal profession but also ordinary people, the two-page letter read. We ask the government to act and put a stop to this continuing
(MANILA BULLETIN)
The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) said in a statement that “it received raw reports that police are supposedly poised to embark on another series of arbitrary arrests in the dead of the night premised on the implementation of predesigned search warrants for ambulant firearms and explosives based on tall tales of dubious ‘informants’.”
Maintaining that the civil society network of its clients is in no way connect to the armed communist movement or gun running syndicate, the NUPL warned law enforcement who will be implementing the search warrants against planting evidence.
“The NUPL maintains that such sham practices by law enforcement agents of the state are totally incompatible with a free and democratic society,” the group stated.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sought to distance himself from alleged abuses by law enforcers under his watch, after a national outcry over the killing of a mother and her son by a police officer, which was captured on video and spread like wildfire on social media.
In a televised address on Monday night, Duterte said the shootings were “too brutal”, describing the officer involved as having a “mental disorder”, even as a chorus of condemnation erupted and Vice President Leni Robredo – an opposition politician – condemned “a larger architecture of impunity” in the country.
“Don’t include those lunatic cops and soldiers from my affection of the police and the military,” Duterte said in Filipino, swearing that he would make sure the suspect would not be able to get away with his crime.
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Lawyers led by former Representative Neri Colmenares troop in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, to express concern over the attacks on lawyers and judges and demand protection for members of the legal profession. DANNY PATA Lawyers groups rally outside SC to condemn killings in legal community By DONA MAGSINO, GMA News
Published December 22, 2020 11:52am
Updated December 22, 2020 11:54am Members of advocacy groups National Union of Peoples Lawyers and Concerned Lawyers for Civil Liberties on Tuesday condemned the spate of killings in the legal community. Holding placards and a long list of work-related killings of lawyers since 2016, they protested outside the Supreme Court in Manila City.