MANILA – The Integrated Bar of the Philippines raised “grave concerns for the rule of law” in the country in light of the arrest of three lawyers during a Makati City bar raid.
Its Board of Governors condemned the arrest, saying lawyers should not be harassed, intimidated or treated like criminals when performing their duty, National President Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo said in a statement released Tuesday.
“The treatment of the three young lawyers erodes the Constitution’s guarantee of due process for every person and violates the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers,” Fajardo said.
These principles “require the government to ensure that lawyers are able to perform their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference,” and that lawyers “not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes in the performance of their duties.”
Lenie Rocel Rocha, Jan Vincent Soliven and Romulo Bernard Alarkon, attorneys for one of the owners of Times Bar on Makati Avenue, were arrested and detained for over 24 hours last week for “intimidating” police officers searching the establishment.
The National Capital Region Police Office defended the arrest of the three lawyers, claiming the latter repeatedly refused to identify themselves and their client.
The three lawyers have been charged before the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office with constructive possession of illegal drugs, obstruction of justice, violation of a Makati City ordinance for crossing beyond the police line, and resistance and disobedience.
Last Thursday Makati City police served a regional trial court-issued search warrant to the registered owners and managers of the bar.
The court found probable cause for the maintenance of a drug den charge upon the judge’s examination under oath of Chief Inspector Gideon Ines Jr., assistant chief of police for operations.
“In representing their clients in court, in counseling them while in detention, and in representing them during searches, lawyers are performing their constitutional duty to act as legal counsel, and should not be treated as if they are in criminal conspiracy with their clients,” Fajardo said.
“Lawyers and law enforcers have a common duty. As officers of the court, both are tasked to help administer justice in accordance with law. The law enforcer’s zeal to investigate and arrest criminals is matched by the lawyer’s determination to ensure that legal rules are followed and legal rights are respected,” he added./PN
