Several lawyers said the verbal and physical attacks against many of them, particularly those who act as counsels in the petitions against the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), could be abated if the Supreme Court (SC) would stop the enforcement of the law.
They called on the SC as “the constitutionally-appointed guardian of civil liberties and protector of the legal profession to take immediate measures to stop these attacks.”
“The issuance of a TRO (temporary restraining order) on the enforcement of the ATA pending the final adjudication of the 37 petitions could help address the worsening situation,” they said.
The 37 petitions being heard in oral arguments by the SC have pleaded for a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would stop the law’s enforcement that started on July 18, 2020.
In a statement, the lawyers – led by former Solicitor General Jose Anselmo I. Cadiz and Howard M. Calleja – who filed the first petition against ATA – cited incidents where lawyers against ATA were either red-tagged, subjected to surveillance, or physically attacked like lawyer Angelo Karlo Guillen who was stabbed last Wednesday night, March 3, in Iloilo City.
On top of being a lawyer for activists and human rights advocates, Guillen is the counsel in one of the 37 petitions filed against ATA.
They said that “petitioners former Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and former Ombudsman Conchita Morales have raised the issue of Gen. Antonio Parlade’s terrorist tagging of groups and their lawyers who question the constitutionality of the ATA in the Supreme Court.”
Also, they cited the case of lawyer Raffy Aquino, a Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) member and counsel in one of the 37 petitions against the ATA, who “was listed by government security forces as a ‘CPP/NPA’ (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army) member.”
“Members of the NUPL (National Union of People’s Lawyers), who also serve as counsel in another petition, have also been red-tagged,” they said.
In the case of lawyer Evalyn Ursua, counsel in the petition of the NUJP (National Union of Journalists of the Philippines) and others, “also suspects that she is under surveillance, after repeated incidents of motorcycle-riding men taking photos of her residence and receiving suspicious phone calls from unknown callers.”
Guillen, they said, “is the latest victim from among the lawyers and petitioners who oppose the ATA.”
The lawyers condemned Guillen’s attack which “was directly brought about by the continuing impunity in the country, as evidenced by the killing of at least 54 lawyers and judges and the thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in 2016.”
“These attacks against lawyers must stop as they threaten the practice of the legal profession and the right of the people to judicial remedies,” they said.
“Beyond issuing statements of condemnation, we urge members of the legal profession and various law groups to launch a more active and militant response to these attacks,” they stressed.
They also called on the Filipinos “to demand from the Government to stop the killings and the escalating violence and impunity that have seriously eroded the rule of law and our democratic order.”