There can be no genuine equality while women remain targets of abuse, exploitation, and contempt, and while poor and working women continue to suffer the combined violence of patriarchy and economic oppression. To defend women’s rights is to fight misogyny in all its forms, demand accountability from those who perpetuate it, and challenge the social order that keeps women vulnerable, silenced, and exploited.

NUPL urged the Supreme Court to consider safeguards that protect lawyers and litigants and keep court processes safe, including convening a dialogue on effective protective mechanisms, issuing guidance when red-tagging and guilt-by-association narratives surface in court proceedings, and adopting clear protocols for responding to credible threats against counsel.

The enduring significance of EDSA rests on a simple truth: public spaces belong to the people. They must remain open as platforms for public discourse—robust, uninhibited, and free from the chilling effect of threats of dispersal or prosecution under a statute born of martial rule. EDSA stands as the people’s forum when they demand accountability and seek the fulfillment of the promise of People Power.

We reiterate that the weaponization of terror laws and financial sanctions as tools of repression, even under the pretext of complying with Financial Action Task Force recommendations, has no place in a democratic society.

These attacks against Atty. Gorgonio and his clients, whom the military has labeled as “high value individuals,” are part of the continuing weaponization of counterterrorism measures against development workers and human rights defenders. They create a chilling climate meant to intimidate and hinder human rights lawyers from independently performing their duties and providing legal services without fear.

NUPL reaffirms its solidarity with endangered lawyers everywhere and its commitment to speaking out against illegitimate interference with the legal profession and judicial independence, wherever it occurs.