Disbarment case filed vs DU30: Rights groups accuse former president of code violations

Human rights groups and the families of victims of extrajudicial killings have asked the Supreme Court to strip former President Rodrigo Duterte of his license to practice law, accusing him of violating the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA) and of conduct unbecoming of a lawyer.

Karapatan, an alliance of human rights groups, filed the disbarment complaint which is part of an effort to hold Duterte accountable for alleged human rights abuses during his presidency, group secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

The complainants are lawyer Vicente Jaime M. Topacio, whose parents, NDFP consultants Agaton Topacio and Eugenia Magpantay, were killed in November 2020; Llore Pasco, whose sons Crisanto and Juan Carlos were killed in a 2017 police drug war operation; Liezel Asuncion, widow of Bayan-Cavite coordinator Manny Asuncion, one of nine activists killed in the 2021 “Bloody Sunday” raids; Rosenda Lemita, whose daughter and son-in-law, Ana Mariz and Ariel Evangelista, were killed during the same raids; and Lean Porquia, son of slain Bayan Muna-Panay coordinator Jory Porquia.

Other signatories include human rights defenders Satur Ocampo, Fr. Manuel Gatchalian, Sr. Eleanor Llanes, and cultural workers Bonifacio Ilagan, JL Burgos and Kiri Dalena.

“With Duterte’s invocation of his role as a lawyer and prosecutor as some kind of authority in his recent testimony at the hearings at the House of Representatives and the Senate, we believe it is time for victims of human rights violations to speak up. It is time for us to appeal to the Supreme Court to reinforce how the law should work in the Philippines, how the law should shield victims of human rights violations as they seek justice, and should ensure the dignified and proper conduct in the practice of law,” Topacio said.

Pasco expressed a plea for justice: “We want justice. I was there when Duterte testified at the Quadcomm hearings and he was obviously trying to intimidate us. We ask the esteemed justices of the Supreme Court to protect us from people like him who use their status as lawyers to try to make wrong and reprehensible things seem right.”

“Duterte continues to speak out in favor of human rights violations. He should be disbarred for his unacceptable conduct and pernicious abuse of his position that devalues human life and undermines respect for civil liberties,” Asuncion said.

Meanwhile Duterte’s former Chief Presidential Counsel Salvador Panelo said the disbarment case against the former President has no legal basis, emphasizing that he has not violated any unethical conduct or law as member of the bar.

“A citizen cannot be called a criminal without being convicted by a competent court of a commission of a crime,” he said.

Panelo said there has never been no admission made on extra-judicial killings.

“They should read the transcript of the proceedings. All his statements on killings were all hyperbole. They will not stand in court,” he stressed.