“Any attack against a lawyer weakens the practice of law and demoralizes lawyers from fulfilling their sworn duty to defend their clients. It threatens the independence of lawyers and judges, hindering their pursuit toward an effective administration of justice. Ultimately, an attack against a lawyer is a threat against civil liberties and should not be tolerated.” -- Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Negros Occidental Chapter.
I support this statement as a citizen and as an officer of the court. I am horrified over the gruesome murder of lawyer Rafael Atotubo who shot to death by two unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants at Barangay 20 in Bacolod City.
I have an affinity with lawyers. My dad was a lawyer, a provincial prosecutor then called a fiscal. He had his share of his detractors who argued to the court to put behind bars or put to death convicted criminals.
Growing up, dad never bragged about his exploits as a lawyer. But we can sense the family could be placed in mortal danger. He was issued a carbine, which he hid in his clothes cabinet and warned us kids never to open it. Then he told the PLDT not to put our home phone in the white pages of the directory.
We all grieved when he passed away. We were now free to open the banned spaces.
But on hindsight, he died a natural death. A blessing. God peacefully took him in His bosom.
Which we cannot say of the killing of Rafael Atotubo, it was a plain rubout, very much similar to other murder cases.
“We don’t have problems with lawyers...It’s their job to defend their client, and it’s our job to implement and uphold the law,” says Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde.
Lawyers play an important role in providing justice to the people in the society and ensure that they have fair and equal rights injustice they are seeking. It cannot be inferred that any criminal accusation against their clients makes the counsel equally suspect.
I have a friend, Elpidio “Ping” Peria, who is active as an environmentalist lawyer. On his civil society side, tackles legal issues on climate change. He’s also an active campaigner against GMOs, and advocates for the rights of indigenous communities and a copyright law expert.
As a lawyer, though, he accepts cases of rape in his beloved Mindanao. While he managed to raise the eyebrows of some of his civil society friends, he argues that an accused is assume innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt by a court of law.
Besides, Ping argues that he needs the “combat” experience in the practice of law in court. However, it seems other people have other ideas in the case of Atotubo.
Let’s pray that the Bacolod City Police Office find and arrest suspects behind Atotubo’s murder. (bqsanc@yahoo.com)