HRA concludes week-long event for Int’l Human Rights Day

by Janyn Mariella Montealegre

San Beda College of Law-Human Rights Advocates (SBU-HRA) concluded its week-long celebration of Human Rights Week yesterday, December 20.

On its last day, SBU-HRA’s Suri’t Tindig series tackled the experiences of different professions in handling human rights violations.

Titled “Lenses of Human Rights: Perspective on Human Rights of Different Professions,” the fourth part of the series emphasized the roles of human rights frontliners especially in this time of a global pandemic.

Human rights lawyer Atty. Margaret “Meg” Callanta stressed the need to “defend the defenders” as killings of lawyers, union leaders, and other human rights advocates continue to rise at an alarming rate.

She also explained the dynamics of the “culture of impunity” continuously being propagated by the national government even amidst the pandemic.

“Let’s take the government’s pandemic response […] The people were dealt with power, not with compassion. Those who sworn to protect the people are the very ones sowing fear into their minds and this is sadly being tolerated by the government,” Atty. Callanta said.

Meanwhile, Atty. Gloria “Golly” Ramos, a lawyer-advocate for the environment and Vice President of Oceana, the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy organization, highlighted the struggles experienced by environmental defenders as well as local communities in fighting for ecological balance and integrity in the country.

“There are just so many lessons learned and among the concrete ones really is that if our vulnerable communities will be supported, they will not hesitate to assert their rights,” Atty. Ramos stated.

At the latter part of the event, Atty. Neri Colmenares, chairman of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, shared his knowledge about the plight of human rights lawyers in their pursuit of their advocacy in the Philippines.

He discussed the vital points of the Anti-Terrorism law and expounded on the different ways to practice human rights lawyering in the midst of repression.

“Mayroong kahirapan minsan sa mga issues na we tackle. But as long as you believe that this issue is just and reasonable, kailangang-kailangan ng lipunan, then [we] have to do this because it’s part of the duty of not just a lawyer, but as a citizen of this republic,” Atty. Colmenares said.

During the earlier part of Atty. Colmenares’ discussion, the online webinar was penetrated by alleged hackers who shared and displayed a lewd video on the screen.

The Zoom meeting was abruptly ended by the organizing committee of SBU-HRA in order to appease the situation.

The program resumed thereafter with only registered Bedan members being allowed to enter the Zoom meeting.