CONGRESSMEN on Tuesday filed a resolution calling for an investigation of alleged state harassment of human rights defenders in the Southern Tagalog region.
“The use of the Anti-Terror law against human rights defenders who were involved in humanitarian and fact-finding missions sets a dangerous precedent for all human rights workers in the Philippines,” the party-list representatives said in House Resolution 1129.
It said Anakbayan Southern Tagalog coordinator Kenneth Rementilla and Jasmin Yvette Rubia, secretary-general of Mothers and Children for the Protection of Human Rights, were issued summonses on June 26 for allegedly violating the Anti-Terror Law.
“[The President] said in his state of the nation address that the rule of law is strong in the country, but this proves that there is no rule of law in the country,” Party-list Rep. Raoul Danniel A. Manuel, one of the authors of the resolution, said in a statement. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
