Bulatlat News
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) received this year’s Ebru Timtik Award in recognition of its work in defending and promoting the right to fair trial in the Philippines.
The award was given on June 14 at the International Fair Trial Day Conference at Malcom Hall, University of the Philippines Diliman.
“NUPL is thus awarded for giving meaning and substance, at the risk of personal harassment, false accusations, imprisonment, death threats, and even state-mandated liquidations, to the Philippine Constitutional concept of due process of law,” said lawyer Pacifico A. Agabin, professor of constitutional law and chair of the Constitutional Law Department of the Philippine Judicial Academy. He is also a member of the Ebru Timtik Award Selection Committee that presented the award to the NUPL.
“This includes the accused’s rights to be heard by counsel, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against them, to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial, to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to secure the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence in his behalf, and the right to appeal,” he added.
Agabin said that members of the NUPL “have rendered legal services especially to political dissenters, the poor and the oppressed, pro bono, without any expectation or hope of reward.”
Among the co-nominees to the said award are Remigio “Ming” Saladero and Czarina “Dingkay” Musni. They are both NUPL members.
“During his entire working life, Atty. Saladero has been very active as a human rights defender. He has not had an easy life and because of this the jury acknowledges and would like to mention his name,” Agabin said.
“Musni has also shown to be a highly esteemed human rights lawyer by standing up for the rights of others especially those who will be deprived of defense,” Agabin said, adding that Musni had to leave the country for her safety.
Saladero is a founding member of the NUPL and lawyer at the Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center (PLACE). He was arrested along with six other activists in 2008. The rebellion charges filed against him and several other activists were eventually dismissed. Musni is the secretary general of the Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao and NUPL member who was red-tagged by the military and slapped with fabricated chages for rendering legal services to the Lumad.
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“The majority of the jury agreed on the consideration that the individual nominees for the 2023 Ebru Timtik Award didn’t entirely operate on their own. Support was given by the NUPL as a vehicle for all of most of their actions,” the excerpt from the decision of the Selection Committee read.
“The organization was also nominated and it seemed reasonable to the majority of the jury to grant the NUPL the Ebru Timtik Award,” it added. “The jury would like to acknowledge that to succeed the continuation of the efforts for fair trials collectively, in such a long-term from one generation of lawyers to others, in such high-risk conditions is very impressive and inspiring. The jury also expresses their hope that the international recognition for the NUPL’s work to aid Philippine citizens for fair trials and justice in difficult circumstances will help the NUPL and its members to continue their work.”
In its acceptance speech, the NUPL thanked the Selection Committee and congratulated Salader and Musni. They said that the award belongs “not to any one member or a group of members alone but rightfully to each and every member of NUPL for they are they NUPL who act, live, breathe, feel and think as the best lawyers that money cannot buy.”
The NUPL dedicated the award to the “sons and daughters of our fallen comrades-in-law and those who have gone with their boots on and passed on the baton to us to finish the journey.” The children of slain human rights lawyer Ben Ramos also joined the NUPL lawyers.
“No matter the manner of death, they are all heroes in our hearts. Ultimately, we share this Award to our clients, our brave clients who deserve brave lawyers, as well as future clients, as the case will be. It is after all, the social movement that makes people’s lawyering an imperative,” they said.
“Finally, we shall eternally remember the inspiring words of Ebru Timtik who had to make the extraordinary sacrifice of giving up her life fighting for the basic principle of a fair trial: ‘Only those who resist are hopeful. Our hope is great, our faith is complete,’” the group said.
“And we renew our promise that we have kept. We shall carry on the fight by slaying the dragons of injustice even though the heavens fall,” they added.
Who is Ebru Timtik?
Ebru Timtik was a lawyer from Turkey who died after launching a 238-day hunger strike as protest against violations of fair trials.
She and her colleagues were detained and convicted for “terrorist offenses.” According to the IFTD, her conviction “was based on the testimony of anonymous witnesses, many of whom gave inconsistent testimonies in relation to alleged facts and time periods.”
Every year, on the occasion of the IFTD, the Ebru Timtik Award is made by an independent jury to an individual or individuals and/or an organization who have or which has made a significant contribution to the defence and promotion of the right to a fair trial in the focus country.
For this year, the country of focus is the Philippines where the lawyers also held a fact-finding mission to look into the attacks against the legal profession. (RVO, DAA) 
Disclosure: The NUPL represents Bulatlat in the civil case for the nullification of the National Telecommunications Commission website blocking order.
