Rights lawyer says gov’t ‘mounting war on humanity’

Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno. SCREENGRAB FROM INQUIRER.net VIDEO

The Duterte administration is “mounting a total war on our entire way of life, freedom we fought so hard for and our humanity,” human rights lawyer Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno said on Tuesday.

Diokno lamented that the government “concealed the truth” that justice was only possible for the rich and powerful and police could act with impunity.

“By feeding us constantly with lies, fear and violence, they are forcing us to swallow the illusion that justice is being done and society is being protected–to conceal the truth that justice is only for the rich and powerful, that the police can act arbitrarily and with impunity, and that life is cheap and human dignity means nothing to them,” he in a statement issued following the death of Executive Judge Edmundo Pintac of Ozamiz City Regional Trial Court.

“Executive Judge Edmundo Pintac of Ozamiz City is the fourth judge and the 14th lawyer to be attacked since July 1, 2016–most of them by men riding in tandem. He joins more than 20,000 other men, women and children who have fallen victim to a regime that has no respect for human lives,” Diokno said on Tuesday.

Pintac was gunned down by unidentified assailants in Purok 2-B, Barangay Banadero in Ozamiz City of Misamis Occidental on Monday morning.

READ: Ozamiz City RTC executive judge killed in ambush

The lawyer advised the public to be vigilant in protecting our human rights from the Duterte government.

“We need to defend humanity and protect our way of life from being supplanted by a government obsessed with supplanting truth with lies and replacing justice based on reason with injustice from the barrels of guns,” he said. /jpv