OPINION
Tinig Migrante
By E. Maestro
Atty. Benjamin “Ben” Ramos is
the 34th lawyer killed since President
Rodrigo Duterte assumed power two
years ago. Excluding judges and
prosecutors, Ramos is the “24th
member of the profession killed and
the 8th in the Visayas,” according
to the National Union of People’s
Lawyers (NUPL). The Philippines is a
very dangerous place to be a lawyer
-- if those legal skills are directed at
protecting human rights. Taking up
the cases of the most marginalized
sectors in Philippine society is almost
always a death-defying act.
The untimely death of Ramos
exposes once again the culture of
impunity that continues to worsen
under the Duterte administration.
Impunity means the immunity, yes, the
exemption from punishment enjoyed
by military, police, security officers
& para military agents in the killings,
torture, illegal arrests of civilians.
Who is Atty. Ben Ramos? He
was one of the founders of NUPL, a
group of human rights lawyers that
provides free legal assistance to
victims of human rights violations.
He was also the Secretary General of
the NUPL-Negros Occidental. Ramos
was gunned down by motorcycle-
riding men at around 10:30 pm
on November 6th in Kabangkalan,
Negros Occidental. He was declared
dead on arrival at the hospital. He was
56 years old and left behind his wife
and three children.
Ramos was a people’s lawyer.
Just this past October, Ramos was
part of the Quick Reaction Team and
provided free legal assistance to the
families of the victims of the sugarcane
workers massacred in Sagay, Negros
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY November 1 - 15, 2018
For Atty. Ben Ramos (1962-2018): Who Will
Defend the Defenders?
Occidental, known as the Sagay
Nine. The Sagay Nine were killed
for cultivating a corner of the vast
hacienda in between the harvesting
and planting seasons called the
tiempo del muerto, so the workers and
their families could have something to
eat. The workers call this bungkalan,
an agricultural occupy movement of
cultivating idle land to have something
to eat. Ramos was also co-counsel for
the case of the Mabinay Six or the six
activists arrested in Mabinay, Negros
and charged as communist rebels.
Atty. Ian Sapayan, co-counsel for the
Mabinay Six, said that he and Ramos
were working on the bail hearing and
were scheduled to cross examine a
final witness this mid-November.
As early as April 2018, the
National Police in Negros had posted
the photo and name of Ramos on
posters/hit list of persons using “red-
tagging”. The human rights group
KARAPATAN declared that the police
“have made him and other mass
leaders and human rights workers
open targets for precisely this kind of
attack.” The malicious and deliberate
“red tagging” is a well-known strategy
of Philippine governments and military,
a tactic of those afraid of the people
and their human rights defenders.
The Integrated Bar of the
Philippines has condemned the killing
of Ramos. In the statement of IBP
President Abdiel Fajardo on behalf of
its 40,000 lawyer members, he said
that “our pens and typewriters are
helpless against the guns and bullets
that have tilted the scales of justice…
in favor of impunity and lawlessness.”
In Canada, members of the legal
community, human rights advocates
and community organizations signed
on to protest the killing of Atty. Ben
Ramos. They signed on to the specific
calls which included that the Philippine
government carry an immediate,
transparent and impartial investigation
into the murder of Ramos; that the
Philippine government respect and
abide by the UN Human Rights
Declaration and other international
human
rights
standards
and to-farmer knowledge and resource
instruments; and that the government exchange, they would transform their
put an end to the harassment against lives and communities. He knew that
all human right defenders. The farmers were (and are) the heart of
signatories included the International the Philippines and central to her
Coalition for Human Rights in sustainability and resilience. “
the Philippines, the International
Atty Ben Ramos was a people’s
Association of People’s Lawyers, many lawyer, not cut in the same cloth as the
law students, lawyers and groups like other lawyer in Malacanang. Lawyers
the Kagawasan Liberation, Canada go through the same education, the
Philippines Solidarity for Human same BAR examinations, study the
Rights and Migrante Canada. The same cases in law but not all have the
European Union in the Philippines same moral compass that Atty Ben
and the Confederation of Lawyers Ramos lived and worked by.
in Asia-Pacific (COLAP) issued its
Sino ang magtatanggol sa mga
statement of condemnation on the tagapagtanggol? Who will defend
killing of Ramos.
the defenders? The NUPL posed the
Bayan Canada, a Canada- question that had crossed all our
wide network of progressive Filipino minds. The NUPL, from its long legal
organizations and groups, called on struggles in the courtroom, streets,
the Canadian government and Prime farms, and prisons, reassures us when
Minister Trudeau to immediately stop it said:
its funding and collaboration with
“Our clients will. The people
the Armed Forces of the Philippines and their various organizations will.
and its related institutions in the light And we the lawyers of the people will
of the gross human rights violations not be cowed, will not blink, will not
committed under the culture of retreat, we will not look the other way,
impunity.
and we will stand our ground. Yet we
The UBC Philippine Studies will close ranks. We will be there in the
Series also issued its statement trenches in defense of the defenseless.
“Justice for Attorney Ben Ramos” There is no other choice. It is a painful
.Amber Heckleman, A PhD student price we have to pay sometimes in the
at UBC Centre for Sustainable Food service of the people and as a pledge
Systems and a PSS member had to the next generations we will leave
many occasions to work and talk with behind.”
Ramos during her field trip in 2016 in
Our solidarity and condolences
Negros and she wrote her personal to the family of Atty Ben Ramos.
statement in Rappler: “Atty Ben Mabuhay si Atty. Ben Ramos!
committed his life
to building the
resources
and
infrastructure
necessary
to
empower farmers.
He believed in
farmers. He knew
that if you give
farmers land, build
their capacities for
developing their
own agricultural
resources,
and
revitalize
traditional farmer- The National Union of People’s Lawyers- will not be cowed!
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