“State forces will always be there to call us into submission, to prevent us from performing our sworn duties as lawyers. But I come to realize that there is no other way to stop the rights violations but to fight. Fight the system that breeds them.”
“Indeed, it is tragic that so many have been victimized; but the perpetrators and the people behind them are sorely mistaken if they think that violence can defeat people’s advocacies. In the long run, impunity simply cannot prevail over demands for justice and accountability.”
“There are ways forward. But certainly, the international community has a role in attaining justice, especially [since] the domestic mechanisms are severely compromised,”
After a decade, Mary Jane Veloso will now be able to narrate her ordeal in full.
“Clearly, there was no criminal act was and has been committed by Perez and Colabres for the police to ‘arrest’ them in the first place.” By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com MANILA — Lawyers group denounced what they called a “malicious imputation of a crime and web of lies” against their colleague who merely performs…
Forty-four leaders of various organizations appealed to the high court to declare the law unconstitutional, for it “insidiously encroaches upon fundamental and constitutional rights, such arbitrary deprivation of the right to life, liberty and property and the non-observance of the right to due process and to presumption of innocence.”
“The law serves as the trigger for a hand that has long been poised to shoot. Verily, the prosecution and escalated persecution of activists, dissenters, and even ordinary citizens who dare harbor opinions contrary to the government line are not questions of ‘if,’ but ‘when.’ It becomes a question now of how large a scale…
“It is the state’s duty to ensure and protect human rights at all times, more importantly during the time of crisis where the temptation or desire to resort to abuse of power is strong.”
“Some detention centers have clinics but have no doctors. There are only two to three doctors for the thousands of PDLs [persons deprived of liberty] in the whole capital.” By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com MANILA – While human rights lawyers and relatives of political prisoners welcomed the recent Supreme Court’s (SC) circular ordering…
“This is a marching order for law enforcement authorities to use their weapon against the people unlawfully and without basis.”
“…[w]hy single out Mayor Sotto? Is this because he is supported by the people? Or is it because his response (to the pandemic) affirms the incompetence of the national government?”