An advocacy group has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to take immediate action against what it called as “unethical, unprofessional and dangerous” request by the Calbayog City police to the city’s regional trial court (RTC) for a list of lawyers handling cases of “communist terror groups.”
In a statement, Kapatid – a support group of families and friends of political prisoners – said the SC “must come to the defense of those who are only doing their job as officers of the court to provide legal assistance to the marginalized and vulnerable like activists and indigenous people.”
The SC has confirmed receipt by the Calbayog City RTC of the letter-request sent P/Lt. Fernando Calabria of the city police’s intelligence division.
Calabria said in his letter that the request was in “compliance from higher PNP (Philippine National Police) offices regarding lawyers who represent Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) personalities in Court.”
Confirming receipt of the letter, SC Spokesperson lawyer Brian Keith F. Hosaka said: “Yes, the Office of the Clerk of Court of the RTC Calbayog confirmed receipt of the letter request this afternoon (March 12). However, no action has been taken on the request.”
Through Spokesperson Fides Lim, Kapatid said: "Human rights lawyers play a legitimate role in the promotion of human rights and administration of justice. Instead of stigmatizing them, extra measures should be made to ensure the protection of lawyers who are at greater risk due to their dual role – ‘as legal professionals and as human rights defenders.’”
Lim pointed out the cases of “lawyers Ben Ramos and Angelo Karlo Guillen, both rights lawyers in Negros who were representing activists, were red-tagged before Ramos was gunned down and Guillen was stabbed.”
“Should courts accede to the PNP request, it is like signing more death warrants when the blood from those search warrants issued by trigger-happy judges has not even dried up yet,” she added.
Lim referred to the March 7 deaths of nine persons in South Luzon provinces. Those killed in the police and military operations done to serve search warrants were suspected of links to communist rebels.
In a statement issued Friday, March 12, Edre U. Olalia, president of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL), described the request unbelievable “for its imprudence.”
“But then again, it fits into the puzzle on the who, what, why, and how of these attacks. The only remaining question is when and where," Olalia said.
He added that “this audacious request that is hard to refuse is the smoke in the gun traceable to the hand that pulled the trigger and the enablers of various attacks against lawyers especially human rights lawyers representing clients the State does not like."
The NUPL had said that a total of 61 lawyers, including prosecutors and members of the judiciary, have been killed since President Duterte assumed office in 2016.
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra had said the Department of Justice (DOJ) has completed its inventory of cases on lawyers who have been killed since President Duterte assumed office in 2016.
However, Guevarra refrained from making the inventory public as “more details are needed.”
He said the inventory was culled from the cases under investigation by the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), under preliminary investigation by the prosecution service, and undergoing trial in courts.