MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday condemned the alarming number of murders and threats against lawyers and judges. A legal group said that these attacks are considerably greater under President Rodrigo Duterte compared to the past 50 years under six former presidents.
The 15-member high court asked lower courts, law enforcement agencies and groups of lawyers and judges to provide information about such attacks over the past 10 years, so that the court could take preventive measures. The attacks, he said, endanger the rule of law in an Asian bastion of democracy.
“Threatening our judges and lawyers is nothing less than an attack on the judiciary. To attack the judiciary is to shake up the very foundation on which the rule of law is based ”, said the superior court in a rare censure of the attacks with strong words. “This cannot be allowed in a civilized society like ours.”
The court said it would not “tolerate acts that only pervert justice, defeat the rule of law, undermine the most basic constitutional principles and speculate on the value of human lives”.
The Free Legal Assistance Group, a prominent group of lawyers, said at least 61 lawyers were killed in the five years of Duterte’s presidency, compared with at least 25 lawyers and judges murdered under six presidents since 1972, when dictator Ferdinand Marcos put the Philippines under martial law.
Groups of lawyers said the court’s complaint was delayed, but they welcomed it nonetheless. “We have heard the bugle for a long time and have provided concrete information and recommendations,” said lawyer Edre Olalia, who heads the left-wing National Union of People’s Lawyers.
Several lawyers who represented alleged drug traffickers or were involved in the illegal drug trade were among those shot to death under the Duterte government. When he took office in mid-2016, Duterte launched a major anti-drug crackdown that left more than 6,000 minor suspects dead and alarmed Western governments and human rights groups.
The impetuous Duterte, a former government prosecutor, denied having ordered the murder of suspects for drug offenses, but repeatedly threatened the death suspects and ordered police authorities to shoot suspects who threatened them. Military and police personnel are also suspected of carrying out attacks and threatening lawyers and judges who support communist guerrillas.
Earlier this month, national police fired the head of intelligence in the central city of Calbayog after he asked a local court for a list of lawyers representing the captured insurgents. The secretary of Justice, Menardo Guevarra, said that the actions of the head of intelligence “are completely devoid of any legal or statutory basis”.
Last week, a streamer appeared at a busy intersection in the metropolis of Manila, thanking a judge of first instance for freeing a journalist and a union leader linked to communist rebels. It was not clear who placed the banner, which carried the logo of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
“We are aware that there are rebel elements who, in their zeal to do what they think is necessary, would simply dismiss the limitations of our law as mere obstacles,” said the Supreme Court.
The court said it would work on rules on the use of body cameras for police members who carry out search and arrest warrants. Many alleged drug traffickers and insurgents have been killed in recent years after the police alleged that they violently resisted receiving such warrants. Activists questioned these allegations, citing the poor record of human rights by the military and police.