Press Statement
November 7, 2025
Seven years ago, on November 6, 2018, our dear colleague and friend Atty. Benjamin Tarug Ramos was gunned down in cold blood by unidentified assailants in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental. To this day, his case remains unsolved and his killers unpunished.
Atty. Ben was not only a founding member of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) but also the Secretary General of NUPL-Negros—a tireless advocate for peasants, political prisoners, and victims of human rights violations. He also served as the Executive Director of the Paghidaet sa Kauswagan Development Group (PDG), which worked closely with grassroots organizations and peasant communities across Negros Island.
At the time of his killing, Atty. Ben was representing the families of the Sagay 9—farmers massacred while asserting their right to till the land. He had been relentlessly red-tagged, harassed, and vilified by state agents before his death.
Atty. Ben’s murder was not an isolated tragedy. It was part of a continuing pattern of state-sanctioned attacks on human rights defenders and people’s lawyers who stand with the poor and the oppressed. Since 2016, dozens of lawyers have been killed, and many more have faced threats, harassment, and surveillance.
Today, as we commemorate the seventh year of his extrajudicial killing, we remember not only the man but the movement he embodied. Atty. Ben’s life was spent where justice was most needed—in the fields with farmers, in the streets with the oppressed, and in the courts.
He once said: “We understand, of course, that maybe total change in society will not be achieved during our lifetime. At least we know that we spend our lives for the future generations.”
These words capture the spirit of the people’s lawyer: steadfast, selfless, and unyielding even in the face of danger.
Seven years on, the same injustices persist. Human rights defenders continue to be attacked. Grassroots movements and development organizations like PDG and many others remain under threat, accused of baseless crimes for serving the people. The climate of impunity that claimed Atty. Ben’s life endures.
But his legacy lives on. Atty. Ben Ramos lives in our continuing fight for justice, in our service to the people, and in every act of courage that refuses to bow to fear.
As we honor his memory, our calls remain:
- Stop the attacks on lawyers, human rights defenders, and people’s organizations;
- Hold accountable those who ordered, enabled, and continue to justify these killings;
- Dismantle the machinery of impunity that emboldens perpetrators and silences dissent;
- Uphold the rule of law and human rights that Atty. Ben devoted his life to defend. ###
Justice for Atty. Ben Ramos!
Justice for all victims of extrajudicial killings!
Stop the attacks on people’s lawyers and human rights defenders!
Reference:
Atty. Josalee S. Deinla
NUPL Secretary General
+639174316396
See post: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CqqqY5cXV/?mibextid=wwXIfr
