NUPL At Nineteen
“There is nothing more fulfilling than to be devoted to defending our clients and people who work for social change. We shall be with them as they embark on militant actions, engage in empowering undertakings and in the process, strengthen and further unite their ranks. Our commitment to our struggling people is what makes us people’s lawyers.”
September 16, 2026
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.

Nineteen years ago, Atty. Romeo T. Capulong helped lay the foundations of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers with a clear vision of what it means to be a people’s lawyer.

At our founding congress, he reminded us:

“There is nothing more fulfilling than to be devoted to defending our clients and people who work for social change. We shall be with them as they embark on militant actions, engage in empowering undertakings and in the process, strengthen and further unite their ranks. Our commitment to our struggling people is what makes us people’s lawyers.”

Those words remain at the heart of NUPL today.

For Atty. Capulong, people’s lawyering was never simply about representing clients in court. It meant standing with them in their struggles—defending their rights while recognizing their agency, their collective strength, and their aspirations for social change.

For nineteen years, generations of NUPL lawyers, law students, paralegals, and human rights defenders have tried to carry that commitment forward: in courtrooms and detention centers, on picket lines and in communities, wherever the law is needed by those who have the least access to its protection.

Today, on NUPL’s 19th founding anniversary, we remember our founding chairperson and the path he challenged us to continue walking.

May we remain worthy of that legacy.

Be the best lawyers money cannot buy.

Mabuhay ang NUPL!

Mabuhay ang mga abogado ng bayan!

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On the criminal charges of grave threat against VP Sara Duterte

On the criminal charges of grave threat against VP Sara Duterte

The validity of Sara Duterte’s indictment for grave threat is being questioned in light of the Supreme Court ruling in Ombudsman v. Court of Appeals (G.R. No. 146486, March 4, 2005). According to the ruling, an “impeachable officer cannot be criminally prosecuted for the same offenses which constitute grounds for impeachment”. In applying such ruling in relation to the indictment of Sara Duterte, the following points should be considered:

TO ALL THOSE TAKING THE BAR EXAMINATIONS BEGINNING TODAY, we honor the long and difficult work that has brought you to this moment.

TO ALL THOSE TAKING THE BAR EXAMINATIONS BEGINNING TODAY, we honor the long and difficult work that has brought you to this moment.

Behind every examinee are years of study, sacrifice, doubt, discipline, and persistence. As you enter the examination rooms, we wish you the best of health, soundness of mind, steadiness under pressure, and resilience for the days ahead. May you find the clarity to draw upon what you have learned, the composure to meet each question as it comes, and the resolve to keep going through fatigue and uncertainty.

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