NUPL: IBP award affirms human rights lawyering, shields vs red-tagging

MANILA, Philippines — The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) said the human rights award from the Philippine lawyers’ organization “affirmed their role in defending freedoms” and “shielded them against red-tagging.”

Last Thursday, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) gave three NUPL lawyers its first-ever Human Rights Award to recognize “exceptional contributions in the protection and advancement of human rights through the practice of law.”

“This landmark recognition brings a well-deserved spotlight on the critical role of human rights lawyering in fostering a just and humane society,” NUPL said in a statement on Friday.

“It affirms the critical role of people’s lawyers in defending rights and freedoms, battling impunity, and advocating for systemic change,” it added.

NUPL’s Edre OIalia was selected for Luzon, Kristian Jacob Lora for Visayas, and Antonio Azarcon for Mindanao.

“This award also provides a further shield against vicious ‘red-tagging’ of comrades-in-law including yours truly,” Olalia said in his acceptance speech.

READ: Red-tagging a threat to life and liberty – SC

Olalia is NUPL chairperson and transitional president of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.

He was legal counsel for Filipino domestic worker Flor Contemplacion, who was convicted and executed for murder in Singapore in 1995.

READ: Filipino lawyer elected transitional president of int’l group

The NUPL chairperson was also among the lawyers for Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino arrested and sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Indonesia in 2010.

Veloso was given temporary reprieve in 2015 and will be returned to the Philippines this December after a decade of diplomacy.

READ: Mary Jane Veloso may be in PH jail before Christmas

Meanwhile, Lora is a litigator with the Visayas Community Law Center, taking on cases of human rights and public interest pro bono.

Furthermore, Azarcon is a human rights lawyer with a career spanning nearly 50 years, providing legal aid to victims of torture and extrajudicial killings as chairperson of the Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao.

READ: NUPL: Drug war victims, families ready to cooperate with ICC probe

“This award is not about prestige or status, much less translate to higher attorney’s fees nor increase in one’s fair market value as I have already chosen to immerse myself in people’s lawyering,” Olalia said.

“The message that it brings hopefully would inspire others even as I am myself reinvigorated with renewed zest as we refuse to sit idly by but stand up and fight for what is just,” he added.