(Eagle News) — Some lawyers’ groups have asked the United Nations Special Rapporteur to “take urgent action” on President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncements that they allege “punctuate the long-winded attacks on judicial independence…”
“The recent tirades of the President against the Chief Justice do not sound at all foreboding..,” the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Alternative Law Groups, the leftist National Union of People’s Lawyers, Ateneo Human Rights Center, Free Legal Assistance Group, Manananggol Laban sa EJKs, and the International Pro Bono Alliance said as they announced the submission of a report to Diego Garcia Sayan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, on the so-called situation in the country on Wednesday, April 18.
According to the groups, the so-called “attacks on judicial independence” took place “almost two years ago, when the Chief Justice dared resist an apparent intrusion into judicial power.”
They were apparently referring to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno who is facing an impeachment complaint and a quo warranto petition but over her supposed failure to file her complete Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, among others.
The groups also noted the government’s petition seeking to tag as terrorists supposed members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.
“It appears that lawyers who criticize government policies, as well as those whose clients have been tagged as ‘dissenters’ or ‘activists’ are harassed. The lawyers are labeled ‘rebels’ and ‘criminals’ and consequently subjected to intense surveillance,” they said.