EU slams killing of rights lawyer

The European Union yesterday condemned the killing of a human rights lawyer in Negros Occidental on November 6.

“The European Union expresses its sincere condolences to the families of all the victims and looks to the ongoing investigations, as announced by the government, to swiftly bring those responsible to justice,” the EU Delegation said in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission in the Philippines.

Unidentified gunmen killed Benjamin Ramos, secretarygeneral of Negros Occidental Chapter of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).

“The rash of killings of individuals tasked to ensure that justice is done calls for serious government attention...”

He was the main lawyer for the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) in Negros Occidental and provided assistance to farmers following the killing of nine sugarcane farmers in Sagay on October 20.

Ramos was shot dead by motorcycle-riding assailants while he was in front of a sarisari store near the public plaza in Barangay 5, Kabankalan City. Detained Senator Leila de Lima, along with other members of the Senate minority bloc, Resolution 929, called for an investigation into the massacre.

De Lima, a lawyer by profession, said that members of the legal profession were not spared from attacks and killings in a government “where a reigning culture of impunity is encouraged by no less than President (Rodrigo) Duterte himself.”

“The rash of killings of individuals tasked to ensure that justice is done calls for serious government attention and action not only to ensure that justice will be served for victims and their families, but also to prevent more losses in the future,” she said.

According to the initial data from the NUPL, 24 lawyers have been killed in a span of two years, excluding judges and prosecutors and 15 of which remain unresolved.