The Center for International Law (CenterLaw) and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) led yesterday the launching of a broad united legal front to press for justice for the victims Ampatuan massacre and to counter a perceived whitewash in the multiple murder cases against the suspects now being handled by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Called the Tactical Alliance of Lawyers Against Impunity in Maguindanao (TALIM), the coalition also noted with trepidation moves by some politicians to offer legal assistance to victims’ families.
Organizers of TALIM (literally, a knife’s sharp edge in English) said they seek to put a stop to the current overlapping and incoherent efforts to assist the victims’ families in their quest for justice.
The coalition said that except for the Mangudadatus, the interests of the other victims – the slain journalists and other civilians who most notably constitute the greater majority of the victims in the carnage – are not represented in the murder charges already filed against the perpetrators before the courts.
Of the politicians’ offer of help, the coalition said in a joint statement: “while we do not doubt their sincerity, in the long run, such an offer of help will prove to be to the disadvantage of the families, as experience shows that such an offer, albeit generous, generally does not last beyond election day.”
“The overlap and incoherence promises to confront lawyers involved with very real problems of legal and professional ethics, not to mention conflicting prosecutorial strategies,” said Centerlaw chair Harry Roque. “Work by public and private prosecution lawyers need not be undertaken with clock-work
precision, although that certainly is the ideal, but a failure of coordination could result in the prosecution being bogged down by litigation strategies working at cross-purposes.”
“The primary mission is to provide systematic direction and coherence in the legal efforts here,” said IBP Gov. Roan Libarios, the coalition’s lead convener, adding that Talim is now the largest coalition of lawyers groups working for justice for the victims of the Ampatuan massacre.
Represented in the meeting are the following organizations Center for International Law, Integrated Bar of the Philippines National Committee on Legal Aid, Bangsamoro Legal Network, National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), SALIGAN, Lyceum College of Law Office of Legal Aid, MABINI, Sanlakas, Protestant Lawyer’s League of the Philippines, UP Women Lawyers Circle (UP WILOCI), IBP Socsargen, IBP Davao, IBP Saranggani, IBP North Cotabato, UNTV Legal,ULAMA, MUSLAF (Muslim Legal Aid Foundation),Alliance for Muslim Advocates for Law (AMAL), San Beda Office of Legal Aid, UP Office of Legal Aid Gender Justice Network, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Union of People’s Lawyers for Mindanao (UPLM).
The coalition said it will tap the joint parallel independent fact-finding mission to Maguindanao of the Center for International Law and the Commission on Human Rights in gathering evidence needed to prosecute the cases.
Centerlaw in a statement said:
“The massacre of at least 57 innocent men and women on Nov. 23, 2009 in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao is not an isolated case of violence to be dutifully added to the statistics of election-related murders in the country but is only the latest – if it is not already the most gruesome – outrage to date underlining the continuing failure of the Arroyo government to stem the tide of impunity in the Philippines.
Certainly, it has altered as well as reinforced long-held perceptions about the dynamics of political patronage and the culture of violence in the country.
The slaughter brings to the fore what lengths of ruthlessness warlordism in the region may be capable of doing under a climate where it has been given the cloak of legitimacy by official state action for so long; indeed, the long political reign of the Ampatuans in Maguindanao arguably reached unparalleled heights under the current political dispensation.
On the other hand, as the subsequent declaration by the government of Martial Law in the province indicates, it as well occasions well-founded suspicions that, in the rough-and-tumble of political horse-trading, appearances can very well deceive.
Caught in flagrante delicto, the guilty parties in government are now scrambling to erase all the traces establishing their active complicity in arming the Ampatuans and ensuring their stranglehold on power in Maguindanao all these years under an expedient quid pro quo arrangement. The official disavowals in the last three weeks do not lack for dramatic breast-beating, except that theirs only deepen further the sense of irony people feel about their passionate declarations on pursuing justice wherever the chips may fall.
The sheer magnitude of the strictly legal work involved in a case like this is already daunting; putting it in the context of political avoidance by the very institutions charged with carrying out the State’s obligations both under international law and under constitutional law to protect the rights of its citizens makes for a potential miscarriage of justice.”
Center for International Law still helping with Jonas Burgos’ case?
As to the politicians help…self-serving as usual. Sure way to whitewash the Maguindanao carnage.
“The coalition said that except for the Mangudadatus, the interests of the other victims – the slain journalists and other civilians who most notably constitute the greater majority of the victims in the carnage – are not represented in the murder charges already filed against the perpetrators before the courts.”
Excellent move to have a ‘one-stop legal assistance center’ to represent the victims of the Ampatuans , Gloria’s Arroyo’s bffs.
It’s about time to deliver justice to the poor. The Philippines definitely needs many lawyers that can sue politicians who had been abandoning their primary duty to the people. If lawyers are smart enough, they can actually make the politician pay for their services and protect the poor. Many politicians have accumulated wealth from the past, sending their children to elite schools of which their income cannot support. Lawyers must work with an accountant and a financial analyst to build a solid case. It’s time to get out money back. We need good lawyers. Very few works for the benefit of people.
Matalim ang hangarin ng TALIM at sana ay maging mas matalim ang kanilang sandata (kaalaman sa batas) sa kadahilanan ang kanilang susuunging pakikibaka ay kinabibilangan ng grupo na halos hindi kinikilala ang batas na umiiral sa bansa na ang tandisang pinangangalandakan ay hawak nila ang pamahalaan at magagawa nila ang kanilang gustong gawin ayon sa kagustuhan ng nagrereyna reynahan.
The government has been guilty for a long time. This is not new. Lawyers in our country is somewhat slow. When laws are not well developed, the poor will suffer and the citizens will feel fear.
The ampatuans is a done deal. Now it’s time to review everybody in office. Not only Gloria but everybody. If they have been working together as a team for the common good, matagal na sanang Malaya ang pinas.
Now, an oozing volcano is about to erupt. Ang dami talagang problema diyan sa atin…
asiandelight – December 16, 2009 12:32 am
>>> The Philippines definitely needs many lawyers that can sue politicians who had been abandoning their primary duty to the people. If lawyers are smart enough, they can actually make the politician pay for their services and protect the poor. <<<<
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Pasintabi na po sa mga honest-to-goodness nating mga ka-bloggers na mga abugado gaya ni Ginoong SNV, pero sa tingin ko lang, the Philippines has more LIARS than (true) lawyers than who would do the bidding of asiandelight. Ewan ko lang, as I am not a lawyer nor am I conversant in any kind of lawyer-talk, I find it really amazing how lawyers would interpret a law in (at times) totally different perspective depending on who is being grilled. Even provisions in the present constitution are being deliberated on especially when GMA or any big-shot for that matter finds it necessary to circumvent any provision to suit her/his whims and caprices. If such laws would not stand as measuring sticks and are full of loopholes, then why call them laws to begin with ?
Sad to say that the poor sector of our society bears the full force of the LAW as applies to their misgivings. The moneyed, the affluent, and influentials on the other hand, has the luxury of tweaking the laws according to their "needs".
The rich people has the capability to get the services of the best and the brightest in law profession to defend their case. Kaya nga nagpapayaman ang isang tao para protektahan ang kanyang pamilya at kinabukasan eh. Walang taong nagsisikap para humirap. Ang problem dito eh papaano ka yumaman, saan nanggaling ang yung yaman mo? Pero hindi ibig sabihin nito eh… kung may pera ka eh maiiba na ang interpretasyon ng batas para sa iyo. Pantay pantay pa rin, kaya lang ang advantage ay laging yung may money to burn for the best lawyers in town, de kampanilya ba.
Natakot ang judge na maghandle ng case ng Ampatuans. Hindi siguro dahil sa mga tauhan ng ampatuans, baka sa mga tauhan ni gluering.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/12/15/09/quezon-city-judge-wont-take-massacre-case
Walang puwang ang korte para sa judge na duwag! That judge should resign pronto because he does not want his job, sweldo lang ang gusto.
Off Topic:
The hottest international news right now is the Copenhagen climate change conference.
Pandak was/is flip flopping on the issues of climate change, supporting US instead.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/12/04/09/rp-dumps-climate-change-negotiator-copenhagen-talks
Wala ‘yang TALIM na ‘yan.
Tatapatan namin ‘yan ng SAKIM – Samahang ng mga Alyansang Kumakalinga sa mga Inaaping Macapidal.
It’s about time to deliver justice to the poor. – asiandelight
It’s been long since the arroyo’s delivered the justice they want for the poor – to the graves!
House body OK’s move to authorize advance collection of firms’ income tax
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/12/16/09/house-body-ok%E2%80%99s-move-authorize-advance-collection-firms%E2%80%99-income-tax
Take note kung sino ang author ng resolusyong ito.
Patunay lmang na inutil ang tax collection dahil na rin sa pagmamanipula at pagmamaniobra bunga na rin ng walang katapusang kasibaan ng magkakakutsaba sa kawalanghiyaan!
From Jayb:
I join you together with the others in their plight for the justice with regards to the families and those of the journalist slain with maybe a simple cause to show brutality, greed and injustice.
So many were written with that news and the most recent is the inhibition of the assigned justice Quezon City Judge Luisito Cortez to handle the case.
Maybe he all have the right to inhibit himself from the case since whoever the assigned judge for that case is not only would have to fear his safety and those of his families and subordinates, he will also can not deliver the justice needed if those behind the creation of those monsters will have their hands in handling the case.
Take for example the rebellion charges imposed to those monsters, everybody knows that the crime (not rebellion as they would want to implicate) was committed and the witnesses already have taken their courage to stand up and show themselves. as you have said in your column, “Caught in flagrante delicto, the guilty parties in government are now scrambling to erase all the traces establishing their active complicity in arming the Ampatuans and ensuring their stranglehold on power in Maguindanao all these years under an expedient quid pro quo arrangement.”
Quezon City Judge Luisito Cortez may have the courage to deliver justice to the murdered families as he already shown his effort in bringing justice to the case of another greedy monster in Abra. Maybe what he cant promise (and is totally afraid of) is delivering the right decission, if youre hands and feet are all tied up by the person we all knew. Maybe it is also the case why the Justice Puno didnt push him that hard or didnt give him suspension or disbarment or insubordination.
By the way he already gave the hint on what he is really afraid of:
“What is glory without a family,”
In Tagalog it might be witty translated as:
“Ano ang (si) GLORIA, kung walang pamilya,”