{"id":133509,"date":"2017-11-23T03:28:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T08:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=133509"},"modified":"2017-11-23T03:28:49","modified_gmt":"2017-11-23T08:28:49","slug":"sereno-tells-lawyers-defend-human-rights-amid-impunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/23\/sereno-tells-lawyers-defend-human-rights-amid-impunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Sereno tells lawyers: ‘Defend human rights amid impunity’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (Photo: http:\/\/sc.judiciary.gov.ph\/)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno challenged the members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to \u201cmake a stand\u201d and \u201cdefend human rights\u201d amidst \u201cincreasingly glaring atmosphere of impunity\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n

In her speech at the Pagtugon sa Hamon summit organized by the IBP, Sereno called on the lawyers to pressure the government in upholding human rights especially in these \u201cdangerous times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPressure is important, pressure must be continually built up, in all fora, venues and information platforms, for all public officers to respect human rights, to not issue any statement that encourages a disregard for human rights and to investigate human rights violations,\u201d the chief magistrate said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, you, the IBP, and the legitimate law and paralegal organizations must exert the same pressure on the police and the prosecution to solve and successfully prosecute the assailants and not leave it to just anyone who desires media mileage to own the issue of making the police accountable for unsolved murders, rapes, robbery and widespread thievery,\u201d Sereno added.<\/p>\n

Sereno also said that impunity is \u201cendangered\u201d because no one is being held accountable for the crimes that \u201chapless\u201d citizens are suffering from.<\/p>\n

The chief justice further explained that people expressed anger at impunity and for the\u00a0apparent support for legal shortcuts, as well as summary executions.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeans they are clamoring for genuinely effective police investigation, case buildup and successful prosecution,\u201d Sereno said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when murders and rapes are being committed in such frequency and gore, you must expect people to be angry\u2026They will not understand if you try to protect the right to life by a drug suspect when the community is of the belief that drug addicts are the perpetrators of these crimes,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Sereno encouraged lawyers to lend their lives to the poor and oppressed, saying that the law\u2019s calling is for the people\u2019s cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake your stand, make your stand in such a way that no one will doubt that your hearts are with the Filipino people, let your voices be heard clearly as a call to our people to united and defend the freedoms that our forefathers dearly paid with blood for,\u201d Sereno said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you keep silent about these crimes, wittingly or unwittingly, you will be in the subconscious of our people, be considered as indirectly coplict to what they perceive to be as day to day impunity,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Sereno is facing impeachment raps filed by lawyer Larry Gadon for alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, corruption, and other high crimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno challenged the members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to \u201cmake a stand\u201d …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":123203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[12033,23109],"class_list":["post-133509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-chief-justice-maria-lourdes-sereno","tag-integrated-bar-of-the-philippines-ibp","mauthors-carlo-jacob-molina","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}