‘Philippines among Most Dangerous for Lawyers’
Seven
lawyers slain in RP this year
The
Philippines has the notorious distinction of being the second most
dangerous country for journalists topped only by Iraq. It is also one of
the most dangerous places for workers and political activists. Now it has
been adjudged as the most dangerous place for lawyers, said the Counsels
for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL) – a broad group of lawyers, law
students, and paralegals – in the wake of the killing of human rights
lawyer Gil Gojol and his driver Danilo France in Gubat, Sorsogon (623 kms
south of Manila) last Dec. 12.
BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
The
Philippines is now one of the most dangerous countries in the world for
lawyers.
This is
the conclusion reached by the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL)
– a broad group of lawyers, law students, and paralegals – in the wake of
the killing of human rights lawyer Gil Gojol and his driver Danilo France
in Gubat, Sorsogon (623 kms south of Manila) last Dec. 12.
“Attorney Gojol has been a human rights lawyer in Bicol since the 1990s
and was lawyer to Bicol farmers and many political prisoners charged by
the military with acts of rebellion, including Sotero Llamas who was also
gunned down this year,” said lawyer Neri Javier Colmenares, CODAL
spokesman, in a statement received by Bulatlat. “He was also
counsel to members of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or
Philippine Peasant Movement) and Bayan Muna (People First). He has been
in the so-called ‘order of battle’ of the AFP (Armed Forces of the
Philippines) for sometime now due to his militant advocacy for human
rights.
Based on
reports reaching Bulatlat, Gojol had just come from a court hearing
and was on his way to Sorsogon City when four motorcycle-riding men shot
at his van.
France
was the first to be hit, and the vehicle was brought to a stop. Gojol
tried to flee from the assailants but bullets hit him in the back and
buttocks, causing him to fall on his face. He was then shot in the head,
and died instantly.
“Nine
lawyers, one judge and one law student were shot and killed in 2005,” said
lawyer Neri Javier Colmenares, CODAL spokesman, in a statement received by
Bulatlat. “Twelve judges have been killed under the administration
of President Gloria Arroyo, and many of these remain unsolved until
today.”
The
CODAL spokesman also said that a total of seven lawyers have been killed
in the Philippines in 2006 alone. They are:
• Atty. Gil Gojol who was
killed with his driver in Gubat, Sorsogon about 200 meters from a
detachment of the 22nd IB of the Philippine Army;
• Atty. Nestor Ballacillo who
was killed with son, Benedict in Metro Manila;
• Atty. Froilan Villacorta
Siobal who was killed with his wife, Erlinda, in Alaminos, Pangasinan;
• Atty. Rogelio Montero, who
was shot together with his son who is a state prosecutor in Bulacan;
• Atty. Carlo Magno Umingga,
whose wife was also wounded in the attack in Pangasinan;
• Prosecutor Godofredo
Pacenio, who was killed in Agusan del Norte; and
• Judge Sahara Silongon who
was killed in Cotabato City.
“No less
reprehensible is the killing of Asst. Solicitor General Nestor Ballacillo
who was the second lawyer involved in the Piatco-NAIA 3 expropriation case
to have been assassinated,” Colmenares added.
Gojol’s
killing has also been condemned by the International Association of
People’s Lawyers (IAPL).
“Attorney Gojol was a human rights and labor lawyer since the 1990s,” said
Raf Jespers, IAPL secretary-general, in a separate statement also received
by Bulatlat. “He handled almost all the human rights cases in his
area, including those of minors who were unjustly imprisoned. He was the
legal counsel of the Association of Democratic Labor Organizations-Kilusang
Mayo Uno (ADLO-KMU), He was also the former president of the Integrated
Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Sorsogon Chapter.”
“Our
information is that he is the 20th lawyer to be killed by
reason of the exercise of the profession or advocacy since Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo took power in 2001,” Jespers added. “More than ten judges
have also been brutally murdered during the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration.”
Jespers
also hit the Philippine government for the killings of lawyers and what he
described as “other dastardly attacks” on members of the legal profession.
“Aside from strong indications that these political killings in the
Philippines are the handiwork of state security forces, it is the
responsibility of the Philippine government to protect its citizens in
general and its lawyers in particular,” the IAPL secretary-general said.
This is
not the first time that an international body has taken the Arroyo
government to task for the killings of lawyers and judges.
An
international fact-finding mission participated in by members of the
Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation, the International Association of
Democratic Lawyers (IADL), as well as the IAPL among other foreign
lawyers’ groups noted that in the 15 documented killings of lawyers and
judges since 2001 – when Arroyo was catapulted to power through a popular
uprising – to June 2006, not one case had been solved. This finding by the
lawyers’ fact-finding mission was cited by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning
group Amnesty International in its Aug. 15 report, Philippines:
Political Killings, Human Rights, and the Peace Process.
“The
attack against lawyers, including human rights lawyers, is a serious
threat not only on the practice of law but also on civil liberties as
well, since it deprives the poor and marginalized sectors access to and
representation in our courts,” Colmenares said. “Almost all of these
attacks have remained unsolved as the police continue to fail to arrest
the perpetrators, thereby resulting in impunity and unabated killings.
There has been no satisfactory development in the case of Judge (Henry)
Guingoyon who was killed almost one year ago. The government has failed to
come up with serious leads in the killings of lawyers and activists since
2001.”
Jespers
called on all lawyers and lawyers’ organizations worldwide to express
their protest against the killings of lawyers to the Philippine
government. He also urged them “to protect” their Philippine colleagues.
Bulatlat
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