A group of human rights lawyers has renewed its appeal to the Supreme Court for the issuance of a protection order against alleged continuing harassment by the government.<\/p>\n\n
In an eight-page manifestation filed by mail on Wednesday, the National Union of Peoples\u2019 Lawyers (NUPL) updated the court on the military\u2019s \u201cRed-tagging\u201d of its members and a newspaper article claiming that the group, along with several media organizations and journalists, was aiming to \u201cblacken\u201d President Duterte\u2019s image.<\/p>\n\n
NUPL members were included in the \u201cmatrix\u201d of association between leftists and journalists for a supposed plot to unseat President Duterte, which in turn, was allegedly instigated by a series of online videos of a certain Bikoy linking the President, members of his family and his associates to illegal drugs.<\/p>\n\n
The matrix and accompanying article about the plot was published by the Manila Times and written by its publisher, Dante Ang, who is also the President\u2019s special envoy for international public relations.<\/p>\n\n
The NUPL described Ang\u2019s piece as \u201cludicrous,\u201d claiming that the names of its members in the diagram were \u201cobviously\u201d lifted from its brochure.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThese malicious statements and dangerous claims, as well as the contrived \u2018matrix,\u2019 baseless and reckless as they are, compel [us] to again seek at this time for the Honorable Court\u2019s protection and reiterate [our] prayer for temporary protection order,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n\n
Serving underprivileged<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The petitioners said they \u201csimply chose to practice the ideals of the legal profession by rendering services to the underprivileged as mandated by our oath and by legal, constitutional and international principles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \u201cVery few lawyers have taken up the cause of the marginalized and underprivileged. And those who have chosen to do so have become targets themselves. The continued vilification, harassment and threats to the life, security and liberty of the petitioners must stop now. We ask Your Honors to stand by your lawyers,\u201d the NUPL said.<\/p>\n\n The group has a pending petition in the court for the issuance of writs of amparo and habeas data to prohibit state forces from threatening to commit or committing, directly or indirectly, acts that violate the rights of its members.<\/p>\n\n It also asked the high tribunal to order the respondents, led by Mr. Duterte and the military chief, Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr., to disclose, submit and destroy all information gathered about the petitioners.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Incidents of harassment<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The NUPL cited incidents of alleged harassment of its officers and members by military officers who were \u201ctagged, threatened, vilified or subjected to surveillance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n It said the respondents had threatened the rights to life, liberty and security of its members.<\/p>\n\n The group\u2019s latest pleading referred to the recent pronouncements of Major Gen. Antonio Parlade of the National Task Force to End Localized Armed Conflict that the NUPL\u2019s case was a \u201csmokescreen\u201d to stop the government\u2019s investigation on the \u201cSalugpungan\u201d schools in Mindanao.<\/p>\n\n The schools were allegedly operated by communist rebels and funded by donations supposedly collected by the NUPL from European governments and private donors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A group of human rights lawyers has renewed its appeal for protection against harassment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":963309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,34,37,45],"tags":[101551,8330,206124],"byline":[344],"source":[206078],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n