IADL is sharing the following media advisory from our member association in the Philippines, the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL):
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) will pursue its Petition for Amparo and Habeas Data tomorrow, Tuesday, 4 June, at 2PM before the Special 15th Division of the Court of Appeals. It will present as its first witness its President Edre U. Olalia.
Hereunder FYI is the NUPL Resolution during its expanded National Executive Board meeting yesterday:
NUPL-NATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD RESOLUTION
02 June 2019
DRAWING THE LINE
In the course of performing their duties as lawyers, members of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) have been tagged by the military and police establishments as well as their proxies as having links to the Communist Party of the Philippines or New People’s Army, aside from being accused of destabilizing the government.
This persistent labelling runs afoul of the Constitution. It is also a violation of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers which obligates the State to ensure that lawyers are able to perform their functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference and guarantees that lawyers are not identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions. Members of the NUPL have been killed, vilified, or harassed in the wake of these false accusations.
The NUPL, however, is not cowed or distracted. The slander spread by the cited establishments, instead of demoralizing the organization’s ranks, prompted its members to pursue their legal advocacies with more vigor.
The NUPL is drawing the line. There shall be a reckoning, whether or not the dust has already settled. The push back starts with the Petition for Issuance of Writ of Amparo filed against incorrigible officers of the military and shall not stop until the climate of impunity that has enabled the attacks against the NUPL and other human rights defenders is dispelled. #
Atty. Neri Javier Colmenares, Chairperson
Atty. Edre U. Olalia, President
Atty. Maria Catherine Dannug-Salucon, Vice President for Luzon
Atty. Ian Anthony Sapayan, Vice President for Visayas
Atty. Manuel Quibod, Deputy Vice President for Mindanao
Atty. Ephraim Cortez, Secretary General
Grace Saguinsin, Deputy Secretary General
Atty. Rachel Pastores, NEB Member
Atty. Edgar Carmona, Auditor
Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Adviser to the NUPL Board
Atty. Josalee Deinla, Assistant Secretary General for Legal Services
Atty. Julian Oliva, Jr. , Second Assistant Secretary General for Legal Services
Atty. Minerva Lopez, Assistant Secretary General for Campaigns and Advocacy
Atty. Sarah Villamor, Assistant Secretary General for Education and Training
Atty. Carlos Montemayor, Jr. , Second Assistant Secretary General for Education and Training
Atty. Frank Lloyd Tiongson, Second Assistant Secretary General for Research and Publication
Atty. Edwin Dela Cruz, Assistant Secretary General for International Solidarity Work
Atty. Janne Baterna, Second Assistant Secretary General for International Solidarity Work
Atty. Kristina Conti, Secretary General, NUPL National Capital Region
Atty. Katherine Panguban, Head, Women and Children’s Committee
Atty. Angelo Karlo Guillen, NUPL – Panay
Anya Katrina Yzabelle A. Remonte, President, UP NUPL
Clarizette O. Llegado, Secretary-General, UP NUPL