Flag national convention
IATTENDED the Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag) National Convention on October 20-22, 2017 in Antipolo City. With me were retired RTC Judge Meinrado Paredes, lawyers Lourdes Barcenas, Ian Vincent Manticajon and Abraham Acosta.
The Flag National Convention was a grand occasion when veterans of the martial law years mingled with the new and young members of the biggest human rights group in the country. FLAG which was founded by Sen. Jose “Ka Pepe” Diokno in the darkest moments of the Marcos dictatorship, has offered more than twenty (20) martyrs in the struggle for freedom and human rights. Moribund for many years after the Edsa revolt that ousted the dictator Marcos, Flag has again become relevant in the light of the present regime’s bloody war on drugs.
Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen, himself a former Flag member, delivered the keynote remarks. Several speakers were invited, among them: John Nery, the hardhitting columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer who talked about the Philippine political situation, and Prof. Joseph Anthony Lim, of Ateneo de Manila University who discussed the state of Philippine economy.
The second day of the convention made interesting discussions on topics like “Martial Law in Mindanao: Implications on the Peace Process, with panelists Prof Julkiple Wadi of the U.P Institute of Islamic Studies and Prof. Miriam Coronel Ferrer of the U.P Political Science Department.
Flag’s dynamic role to defend and promote human rights in the face of President Duterte’s war on drugs was stressed by Flag National Chairman Jose Manuel Diokno, the son of the FLAG founder, who said that Duterte’s war on drugs is actually a war against the poor. With more than 12,000 extra-judicial killings in gross violation of the rule of law and due process, the national situation has reached an alarming level.
The Flag National Chairman stressed that the bloody war on drugs is also a war against the justice system where people are being punished and killed on the basis of reports and the victims’ inclusion in the list of “drug addicts”. Summary executions continue unabated because President Duterte treats drug addicts as sub-humans who deserve extermination instead of regarding addicts as victims worthy of rehabilitation.