LOOK: Lawyers and law students members of NUPL-NCR held a “Know Your Rights” seminar and legal aid clinic in Libis, Quezon City last August 18, 2024. The activity was organized in partnership with the barangay council of Barangay Libis and Bayan Muna Party-List.
For seventeen years, we have chosen this road, and for however long it takes, we will continue to tread it because we know, as our clients do, that to struggle for justice is never in vain.
The takedowns may seem arbitrary, but they can be seen as part of a larger pattern where activism, advocacy and dissent are disproportionately affected by social media moderation.
Soon, you will be part of a profession that plays an indispensable role in defending the truth and attaining justice. We urge you to look beyond personal ambition and financial success, and to keep in mind the ever-present need for lawyers in advancing a just and humane society.
The government’s ambition to exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list or meet arbitrary prosecution quotas cannot, and must not, serve as a justification for the harassment and criminalization of activists and rights defenders. These are people who take the blows so that others may live with dignity. To brand them as terrorists is a grotesque distortion of truth.