Euro Lawyers’ Mission Asks Gov’t to Investigate Killings

The Counsel for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL) listed 13 lawyers and 10 judges killed since 2001.  “A remarkable number of these lawyers and judges had been involved in human rights-related cases,” said Jan Bless, spokesperson of the International Fact Finding Mission of European lawyers and a district court judge in Haarlem, The Netherlands during a June 20 press conference in Quezon City.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

“I have heard from high authorities that they are very concerned about the rule of law. We ask them to make this country, and keep this country, a strong democratic republic which is ruled by law.”

Thus said Hein Karskens, a member of Lawyers Without Borders, in response to a question as to what he thought should be done to address the killings of lawyers and judges in the Philippines.

Karsken was part of a recent International Fact-Finding Mission (IFFM) of European lawyers that investigated the killings of lawyers and judges in the Philippines. The IFFM was organized by the Netherlands-based Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation and hosted by the broad alliance Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL).

The IFFM interviewed relatives of slain lawyers and judges in Manila and in Tacloban City, Leyte. The mission then met with officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and the Department of Justice (DoJ).

CODAL has listed 13 lawyers and 10 judges killed since January 2001, when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was catapulted to power through a people’s uprising. Among the more notable cases are those of Judge Hendrick Gingoyon in Cavite and lawyers Norman Bocar in Samar, Felidito Dacut in Leyte, Arbet Yongco in Cebu City, and Juvy Magsino in Oriental Mindoro.

“A remarkable number of these lawyers and judges had been involved in human rights-related cases,” said Jan Bless, spokesperson of the IFFM and a district court judge in Haarlem, The Netherlands during a June 20 press conference in Quezon City. “Authorities have confirmed a practice of labeling such lawyers as ‘enemies of the government.’”

“There is a pattern of really disgusting types of threatening and cowardly killings,” Bless added.

The slain lawyers and judges are among the 689 victims of extra-judicial killings under the Arroyo administration documented by the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights). Of these, at least 300 were confirmed to have been affiliated with cause-oriented groups.

These killings of lawyers and judges, Bless said, have affected the dispensation of justice in the Philippines. “Witnesses seem to be afraid to testify: they fear for their lives,” he pointed out.

The IFFM also probed a number of harassment incidents against lawyers and judges – among them lawyers Jobert Pahilga, Ernesto Peñaflor, Gina Co, Kit Enriquez, Tonyboy Azarcon, Pergentino Deri-on Jr., and Charles Juloya; and United Nations (UN) ad litem Judge Romeo Capulong.

Juloya and Capulong are both survivors of assassination attempts that took place in early 2005. They are among the 355 survivors of assassination attempts from 2001 to 2006 documented by Karapatan.

“The threatening of lawyers and judges has made their work completely impossible,” Bless added.

Jobert Pahilga, who is affiliated with both CODAL and the peasants’ legal assistance group Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra or Center for Genuine Agrarian Reform), told, in a separate press conference also on June 20 in Quezon City, of how his being followed by armed men in press conferences and even court hearings has “hampered” his legal practice.

“I am afraid to attend court hearings of farmers in the provinces,” Pahilga admitted. “I fear for my safety.”

Asked in the interview whether he would go as far as holding the Arroyo government directly responsible for the killings of lawyers and judges, Karskens said he could not yet go that far. “I cannot affirm that,” he said.

Another delegate to the IFFM, when asked the same question by Bulatlat, gave a similar answer, but said she was not discounting what she described as the possible involvement of state forces in the killings.

“Of course we call on the Arroyo government to investigate the killings, and we want them to investigate everything – also the possible complicity of authorities,” said Jo Dereymaeker, who is part of Lawyers for the World and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL).

CODAL spokesperson Neri Javier Colmenares, who was in the same press conference with Pahilga, directly placed responsibility for the killings on the shoulders of the Arroyo government.

“For this government and its military, there is no difference between the armed rebel and a leftist activist,” Colmenares said. “They also demonize their counsels or any lawyer whose services they seek. All of them, including us lawyers, have become targets of this war of the government. Such mindset is the reason why the killings continue and why the killings remain unsolved. The mindset confirms the complicity of the government and the military in the killings.”

Bless said the Arroyo government should condemn and stop the killings of lawyers and judges. Bulatlat

BACK TO TOP ■  PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION  ■   COMMENT

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Media Center

Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.