STOP THE HARASSMENT OF BLOODY SUNDAY VICTIMS’ FAMILIES! HANDS OFF OUR CLIENTS!
NUPL issues this final warning to all concerned AFP and PNP personnel: immediately cease and desist from any contact or communication with our clients, without the knowledge of their lawyers and their express consent.
July 2, 2025
NUPL
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers is a nationwide voluntary association of human rights lawyers in the Philippines, committed to the defense, protection, and promotion of human rights, especially of the poor and the oppressed.

1 July 2025

The NUPL unequivocally condemns the relentless harassment and intimidation being inflicted upon the family of Bloody Sunday victims, Randy and Puroy Dela Cruz, members of the Dumagat indigenous people. Randy and Puroy were among the 9 activists and rights defenders from Southern Luzon who were brutally slain in one of the coordinated police operations in the early morning of March 7, 2021. The incident became popularly tagged as the Bloody Sunday Massacre.

Rather than investigating these unlawful killings, the Philippine National Police (PNP)—through PCOL. Lito E. Patay, then the Regional Chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)—shamelessly endorsed the promotion of the officers involved.

The Dela Cruz family has been left to fight alone for justice for Randy and Puroy. As they prepare the documentation necessary for a criminal complaint, NUPL has received credible reports that members of the PNP, specifically from the Tanay Municipal Police Station, have engaged in deliberate acts of harassment and intimidation. On June 15, 2025, uniformed personnel confronted Randy’s wife at their home in Tanay, Rizal, in an attempt to coerce the family into silence and deter them from pursuing legal action.

These repeated intrusions are unlawful, unethical, and a blatant abuse of power. They reveal not just an intent to obstruct justice but also point to the direct involvement and accountability of those responsible for the extrajudicial killings.

NUPL issues this final warning to all concerned AFP and PNP personnel: immediately cease and desist from any contact or communication with our clients, without the knowledge of their lawyers and their express consent. Any further interference will compel us to take all necessary legal action against those responsible, without hesitation.

Reference:

Atty. Katherine A. Panguban
+639566730301

Atty. Julianne B. Agpalo
+639178870776

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Law as Weapon: Five Years of Repression Under the ATA and TFPSA

Law as Weapon: Five Years of Repression Under the ATA and TFPSA

The NUPL renews its call for the immediate repeal of these laws. Their continued enforcement safeguards not security, but legitimizes state repression. As long as these laws exist, rights defenders, activists, journalists, and humanitarian workers will remain at risk—not because they have broken the law, but because they challenge the conditions of injustice that the law now seeks to protect.

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