Senatorial candidate and human rights lawyer Jose Manuel 'Che'l Diokno condemned the harassment of the opposition team’s volunteers, asking the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to investigate the blatant disrespect of the people’s right to campaign.

In a statement, Diokno urged volunteers of the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem to report any kind of harassment and intimidation to the group Lawyers for Chel.

The veteran lawyer is running under the ticket of Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate, Senator Kiko Pangilinan.

“We condemn this blatant disrespect of our volunteers and flagrant violation of the right to campaign which is part of our freedom of expression. I have been in touch with our Davao lawyers and we are monitoring this closely. I understand that one of our lawyers will be meeting with the volunteers today,” the founding dean of the De La Salle University’s College of Law said.

“I also call on the Commission on Elections to investigate and hold accountable those responsible,” he added.

Diokno’s statement came in the wake of a social media post from Davao Youth for Leni volunteers, who said they were harassed earlier this week by barangay officials while conducting a house-to-house campaign in the Duterte bailiwick.

The lawyer said the volunteers were shouted at and barred from approaching the houses.

“To our Davao Youth for Leni members, isang mahigpit na yakap sa inyo. Chel lang kayo (one tight hug. Be chill). We have your back,” he assured.

In a separate statement, Lawyers for Chel also strongly denounced such instances of intimidation as “these acts constitute crimes and offenses punishable under the Revised Penal Code and the Omnibus Election Code.”

READ: Robredo says supporters' harassment bolsters their resolve

The group said anyone who engaged in harassment of campaign volunteers can be administratively and civilly liable.

“In the face of these pernicious threats to a free and honest election, we encourage all Filipinos to continue to exercise and assert their constitutional rights to free expression and assembly,” the group said.

“In the words of the Supreme Court: ‘There can be no free and honest elections if, in the efforts to maintain them, the freedom to speak and the right to know are unduly curtailed,’” it added.

Aside from Robredo’s volunteers in Davao, the Ilocos Norte for Leni-Kiko Volunteers (INLOVE) also cried foul over the social media posts of Ilocos Norte Vice Governor Cecilia Marcos and Bam Sevilla, chief-of-staff of Rep. Angelo Marcos-Barba.

The posts apparently indirectly told the volunteers to get out of San Nicolas town when they were photographed campaigning there.

“It is our constitutionally guaranteed right to express our support and campaign for Vice President Leni Robredo in her bid for the presidency, whether we are in Ilocos Norte or not,” the group said in a statement.

“We are Ilocanos by blood and by heart and you have no right to tell us to get out of San Nicolas or any other place in Ilocos Norte for that matter. We were born here. We grew up here,” they added.

This is not the first time that supporters of the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem were harassed and intimidated.

On Friday, the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) regional office in Pangasinan tried to stop buses transporting Robredo’s volunteers from entering Dagupan to attend her rally there that drew 76,000 people.

The same happened in Bacolod when buses canceled scheduled trips that would have taken supporters to the city where the grand rally was to be held.