To punish children for protest or poverty while sparing the powerful who plunder and abuse is the gravest injustice. The State’s duty is not to break the young with fear but to uphold their dignity and rights.
DEFEND AND PROTECT
THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE!
THE LATEST
Lawyers call for accountability for widespread rights violations and police brutality in September 21 mass arrests
On September 22, 2025, thirteen lawyers from the National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL), Public Interest Law Center (PILC), Sentro para sa Tunay na Repromang Agraryo (SENTRA), and Pro Labor Assistance Center (PLACE) jointly responded to the ongoing detention of individuals arrested during the September 21 mobilizations.
Martial Law at 53: Afterlives of Impunity and the Continuity of Resistance
History has come full circle, but so has the people’s resistance. On this anniversary of Martial Law, we call on all Filipinos to remember not only the horrors of the past but the dangers of their repetition. Dictatorship thrives when fear silences dissent; democracy lives when people collectively defy state oppression.
NUPL joins calls for justice for Palawan lawyer Atty. Joshua Abrina
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) condemns the brutal murder of Atty. Joshua Lavega Abrina in Puerto Princesa City, who was gunned down outside his home on September 17, 2025.
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