Empower the oppressed, Leonen urges lawyers

Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen strongly urged lawyers to use the law to empower the oppressed and victims of injustice to “regain their sense of humanity and their agency.”

The remarks of Leonen was made at the Free Legal Assistance Group’s National Convention held in Quezon City on 17 October.

A member of FLAG and a human rights lawyer from 1988 to 2012 himself, Leonen stressed the importance of legal empowerment of the people and the crucial role of lawyers in this.

During his deployment to communities, he delivered lectures on basic constitutional rights and trained paralegals to document human rights violations.

This engagement with marginalized communities is needed as “the use of law under conditions of injustice should empower the oppressed to regain their sense of humanity and their agency,” Leonen said.

He also called on FLAG to “encourage individuals to become active participants in their own generation rather than passive recipients of instruction.”

He stressed that lawyers should analyze the world “not through social media, but directly with our people in their own culture and their own language.”

Lawyers are also reminded to recognize the “disempowering and often oppressive roles we can play, even in the name of legal aid,” while acknowledging the challenges that developmental lawyers face in securing material support for their families and ensuring their protection.

FLAG, the first and largest network of human rights lawyers in the country, was founded in 1974 by the late Senators Jose W. Diokno, Lorenzo Tañada, Joker P. Arroyo, and Supreme Court Associate Justice J.B.L. Reyes during the martial law regime of then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

It marked its 50th anniversary this year with a membership of around 250 human rights lawyers across the country.