BY JEFFREY DAMICOG
The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) urged the law enforcement agencies to find those who attacked its official in Iloilo City Wednesday night.
NUPL Visayas vice president Rene Estopacio said in a statement that his assistant vice president, Angelo Karlo Guillen, was stabbed in the head and shoulder by two unidentified men. Guillen was fortunate to survive the assault.
“NUPL calls on authorities to promptly and properly investigate the attempt on the life of Atty. Guillen,” Estopacio said.
Estopacio said since June 2016, when President Duterte assumed his post, the NUPL has recorded at least 54 killings of lawyers and judges.
“In December 2020, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, NUPL, and various legal groups raised concerns over the increasing and alarming incidents of attacks on lawyers before the Supreme Court,” he noted.
The lawyer said the NUPL condemned the attack against Guillen who has been serving as counsel in various public interest and human rights cases.
Estopacio said Guillen is one of the lawyers of the 37 petitions filed before the Supreme Court (SC) questioning the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
“He also represents activists and human rights defenders facing trumped up charges in court including the activists arrested during the police raids in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental in October 2019 and the Tumandoks arrested in Panay in December 2020,” he noted.
“On Labor Day last year, he was arrested after responding to the illegal arrest of 42 activists who were protesting the extrajudicial killing of Bayan Muna Iloilo coordinator Jory Porquia,” he added.
