This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 30, September 4-10, 2005
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Latest Killing of Filipino Lawyer Condemned in Asia Pacific Law
Conference
BY BULATLAT
An international conference of lawyers has
denounced the killing of Atty. Norman Bocar last Sept. 1 in Eastern Visayas. Joining the conference in
Seoul, South Korea former Indian Supreme Court Justice Jitendra Sharma said
Sept. 3 that the Philippines exemplifies the worst example of the attacks
against the independence of lawyers and judges. Before a shocked audience,
Sharma pointed out the number of Filipino lawyers killed in the exercise of
their profession and advocacy. He castigated President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
for failing to act on these killings and attacks.
Sharma, currently the president of the
International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), delivered a keynote
speech at the Conference of Lawyers in Asia and Pacific (COLAP 4) in Seoul,
South Korea.
The conference was attended by about 250
lawyers, jurists, professors, bar leaders, students, unionists, members of
parliament and other government officials. The delegates came from Bangladesh,
China, Egypt, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines,
United States, and Vietnam. Sharma broke the news to
the assembly about the extrajudicial killing of Bocar, a known progressive
lawyer and local leader of people's organizations. Sharma lamented that Filipino
lawyers who get killed are mostly those defending the human rights of the poor
and the oppressed. This sentiment was also
shared by other participants in COLAP 4 including Eric Sirotkin of the US-based
National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and Shafique Ahmed, president of the Democratic
Lawyers Association of Bangladesh, among others. Filipino lawyers Neri
Colmenares and Edre Olalia are also in Seoul to attend the COLAP 4. The
conference carries the theme "Peace, Human Rights and Co-Existence." Colmenares
is the spokesperson while Olalia is the head of international affairs of the
Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL, formerly Committee for the Defense
of Lawyers). Olalia is also representing the International Association of
People's Lawyers (IAPL) as its vice president. Colmenares, in his opening
response, made a scathing indictment on the attacks not only on lawyers but also
on civil liberties and its connection with the status of the impeachment against
Arroyo as well as on U.S. intervention in the Philippines. He declared that if
the people cannot trust the "rule of law," then they will exercise their
sovereign right to make their government accountable. The CODAL lawyers are also
set to discuss the details of a planned international fact-finding mission to
look into these killings and attacks. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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