NUPL seeks Supreme Court review of junked plea for protection

MANILA, Philippines — The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers has asked the Supreme Court to look into the appeals’ court dismissal of their plea for protection writ against perceived state harassment and red-tagging.

The lawyers’ group filed a Petition for Review before the SC and prayed for the reversal of the Court of Appeals’ ruling that junked their plea for the issuance of writ of amparo and habeas data.

The NUPL filed a petition for a writ of amparo as they said that their rights to life, liberty and security have been violated by “persistent threats and harassment, and red-tagging,” preventing them from carrying out their profession as members of the bar.

But the Court of Appeals rejected their plea, as it said there is no evidence that the military “are keeping records of investigations and other reports about the petitioners or their alleged ties with the CPP-NPA.”

The group of pro bono lawyers lamented their loss at the appeals court. Its president, Edre Olalia, said: “How many more lawyers and human rights defenders need to be killed, vilified, harassed, threatened, and labelled before the dots are connected?”

READ: Appeals court rejects NUPL plea for protection order vs perceived state harassment

SC petition

The NUPL once again knocked at the doors of the SC and asked the tribunal to look into their petition.

“The Court of Appeals’ refusal to protect the members of the bar came amidst the continuing vilification, threats and harassment against them, with no person being held accountable. The lack of accountability breeds a culture of impunity,” their petition read.

“The Court cannot just ignore the patterns, history, and a well-spring of facts and information, even if contributive only to circumstantial evidence,” they added.

The NUPL named President Rodrigo Duterte and his top security and military officials, including National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana as respondents.

READ: Groups condemn killing of red-tagged human rights lawyer

They also stressed that linking them to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army, considered to be an enemy of the state, is “equivalent to a carte blanche authority to state forces to ‘neutralize’ them without due regard to their rights.”

Last month, rights lawyer Anthony Trinidad was killed in Negros Oriental by unidentified assailants. The NUPL and Karapatan condemned the murder of the lawyer who they said was on a flyer of alleged supporters of communist rebels.

“This only proves as well that the perceived dangers of being arbitrarily, maliciously and baselessly red-tagged are neither imaginary nor contrived, but constitute real threats to life, liberty and security,” Olalia said of Trinidad's murder.

Philippine jurisprudence defines red-tagging as “the act of labelling, branding, naming and accusing individuals and/or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists (used as) a strategy... by state agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the state.’”

“If members of the bar cannot avail of these legal remedies, what more for the ordinary victims of state-sponsored violence and impunity. As members of the bar, we do not only serve justice, we also seek it. We do not seek protection for ourselves alone; we seek protection so we can perform our sworn duty to serve our clients effectively,” they added.

READ: NUPL laments loss of 'legal remedy' to protect them vs perceived state harassment