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.
DEFEND AND PROTECT
THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE!
THE LATEST
Message to the 2024 Bar Examinees
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.
NUPL reiterates call to repeal anti-terror laws amid continuing dismissal of fabricated charges
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.
NUPL decries MTRCB’s X-rating of Alipato at Muog, calls for repeal of PD 1986
This is more than a matter of a solitary act of censorship; it is a chilling reminder that the past, with all its repressive mechanisms, has not fully released its grip on the present. The X-rating of Alipato at Muog is not an isolated incident but a symptom of a larger, more grievous attempt to control the narrative and to sanitize the history that those in power find inconvenient.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The NUPL is hosting two major international events this year. Mark your calendars!
22 - 28 April 2024
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.
14 June 2024
International Fair Trial Day Conference and the Ebru Timtik Award Ceremony
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 PHILIPPINES IS A
DANGEROUS
PLACE FOR LAWYERS.
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