The Special Rapporteur’s report compels urgent legal and institutional measures to dismantle the structures of impunity that continue to subvert the rule of law. The Philippine government now faces a decisive choice: to maintain a legal order that instrumentalizes law as a tool of repression, or to finally fulfill its obligation to uphold democratic accountability and human rights.
Humanitarian considerations must also not eclipse the demands of justice, especially in cases involving crimes against humanity. Age and health, while relevant, cannot outweigh the rights of victims to see the process of justice carried to its end.
Issues of judicial independence also loom over the Senate, There, the Dutertes are benefiting from a wide berth in their political influence, wrongly and unlawfully, to delay or even to kill the trial. They should not emboldened to do the same hullaballoo at the ICC.
Initial victims’ applications, and consequently the appointment of common legal representative/s, are expected to occur within one to two months before the target of August 3, 2025. In the meantime, victims’ views and concerns will be carried by the Office of the Public Counsel for Victims.
The NUPL is hosting two major international events this year. Mark your calendars!
Strategies to Enhance Advocacy Relating to the Independence of the Legal Profession and the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Philippines The NUPL is partnering with the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute in organizing a series of activities to support human rights defenders, including lawyers at risk, strategize, coordinate and undertake advocacy at national and international levels in relation to the independence of the legal profession and for the promotion and protection of human rights.
The Philippines — where fair trial rights are being systemically violated– was chosen as the focus country for this year’s International Fair Trial Day (IFTD) Conference. A series of advocacy initiatives will be held to draw attention to the human rights situation in the country. The decision to establish an IFTD in 2021 by more than 100 legal associations all over the world was accompanied by the establishment of the Ebru Timtik Award. Ebru Timtik was a lawyer from Turkey who lost her life as a result of a 238-day hunger strike she undertook to protest against the systemic violations of fair trial rights which people in Turkey are facing. Every year, on the occasion of the IFTD, the Ebru Timtik Award is made by an independent jury to an individual or individuals and/or an organisation who have or which has made a significant contribution to the defense and promotion of the right to a fair trial in the focus country.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) has been documenting and monitoring prima facie profession or work-related attacks and threats against lawyers and judges since its establishment in September of 2007.
The attacks and threats against lawyers continued in the first two years of the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The NUPL recorded a total of three (3) incidents of killings and 39 other forms of attacks beginning July 1, 2022 until December 31, 2023. The highest number of documented incidents involves the vilification and red-tagging of human rights lawyers by current and former state officials.
Atty. Ma. Saniata Liwliwa Alzate
Killed in September 2023
Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao
Vice-Chairperson
Atty. Juan Macababbad
killed in September 2021
NUPL-Negros Secretary General
Atty. Benjamin Ramos
killed in November 2018