Neri Colmenares, NUPL chairperson, believes that the case against Duterte is strong. “First, he publicly ordered the killings… Second, he refuses to be investigated. Third, the government does not submit evidence to the ICC.”
While victims of human rights abuses won the class suit in the US Federal court in Hawaii against the Marcoses and received compensation, the Marcoses have not been punished for their crimes.
“Progressive culture and artistic expression are the only weapons we wield against fascism and repression.”
The attacks against lawyers “impair the ability of lawyers to provide effective legal representation, make
lawyers increasingly wary of working on sensitive cases, and consequently severely undermine the proper functioning of the rule of law and the adequate protection of rights, including the right to remedies and fair trial.”
Nobody from the Duterte administration wants to admit that the Republic Act 11203, which has liberalized rice importation, is the culprit behind the miserable state of our farmers right now.
“The elderly and the sick are arrested on trumped-up charges while the convicted rapists are freed.”
“The current news splash about the fake Inopacan murder charge is intended by the Duterte regime to draw away public attention from the scandalous release of 2,000 criminals convicted of drug trading, murder, rape and other heinous crimes,” Sison said.
“The problem is that the framework of this task force [to end communist insurgency] provides no distinction between combatants and non-combatants, or activists belonging to organizations categorized as legal fronts [of the Communist Party of the Philippines].”
“State forces in Mindanao are intensifying attacks against civilians in Northern Mindanao as Martial Law continues to be in place in the whole island.”
“How many more lawyers and human rights defenders need to be killed, vilified, harassed, threatened and labelled before the dots are connected?”
“We call on all freedom-loving individuals and organizations to unite in holding the Duterte government accountable for turning Negros island into a killing field.”