CA denies protection plea from lawyers
THE COURT of Appeals (CA) has rejected a plea by a lawyer’s group to stop government threats against its members.
In an order, the appellate court’s Special 15th Division dismissed the petition by the National Union of People’ Lawyers on a technicality after the group failed to provide a list of its members.
The union had sought a temporary protection order, but the appellate court noted that the Supreme Court had already issued a separate writ to safeguard the rights of its members, who are mostly human rights lawyers.
The government of President Rodrigo R. Duterte had tagged the lawyer’s group as part of a bigger movement that’s allegedly plotting to oust him.
The NUPL has dismissed the ouster plot as absurd, adding that it would continue to speak out against the government’s policies including on illegal drugs.— Vann Marlo Villegas
