Bingkat716

“Maria Sol Taule I HAVE TO TELL A STORY It was a long day yesterday. It was exhausting but it’s a weird feeling that I don’t want it to end. The scene of Duterte being escorted and arrested and finally flown to the Hague is something I did not expect I will witness in my lifetime. I was a lawyer since the beginning of the Duterte administration. I was thrown into the fire handling cases of arrests and killings because it is what lawyers do, but the fatigue is something else. And by that, I meant not just physical exhaustion but mental as well, knowing that justice is too elusive for those whom I represent. I wish I was a lawyer who can leave work at the office. But I take all the cases of my clients with me everytime because their fight is my fight, their cause is my cause. In 2018, Duterte kicked Sr. Patricia Fox out of the Philippines for her solidarity with the plight of the oppressed. She lived in the Philippines for 27 years. I was often at the Bureau of Immigration, filing pleadings, waiting in queue for bureaucratic processes to end. On that day, I vividly remember how difficult it was sending off Sr. Pat at the airport. I’m sure Sr Patricia Fox is happy about the news yesterday. In 2019, I flew to Negros to join a factfinding mission about the simultaneous killings of farmers that the government alleged to be members of the NPA. 14 were killed. Scores were arrested. I saw firsthand the crime scene—bloodied mattresses, gunshots and shell casings around the community, marks of military boots on the door as a sign of forcible entry. In 2020, activist Reina Mae Nasino was illegally arrested. She was pregnant and gave birth while in detention. Her baby died. I remember that in court, we almost begged for her to be given longer time for furlough. We were denied. During the wake, a griveing Ina Nasino was forcibly whisked off and taken by the BJMP even when her time is not yet done. On the day of the burial of Ina’s baby, the police instructed the hearse to speed up to the cemetery leaving the grieving loved ones behind. The small casket of Baby River was passed by the BJMP/police like a shoebox. During the pandemic, I have attended to numerous quick response, where I got infected with COVID. I rushed to police stations because police would often arrest those that would help out our fellow kababayan survive a day without the government’s help. In 2021, nine activists fom CALABARZON were simultaneously killed in the dead of the night using the worn out nanlaban story. Many were arrested too including Karapatan Paralegal Nimfa Lanzanas. That fateful day is now known as the “Bloody Sunday Killings.” One of those killed was Melvin Dasigao. I helped prepare a murder complaint against his murderers—the police, but I have not heard about it after four years. In 2021, while doing all the things I need to do, the NTF-ELCAC redtagged me incessantly. NTF ELCAC was created during the time of Duterte. The government accused me of planning a demolition job and assassination plot against the government. During the time of Duterte, I represented at least four drugs cases filed by police officers against hapless civilians, mostly cases of palit-ulo and tanim ebidensya—one case I almost dropped because Pasay police was harassing me. All these cases were now dismissed. The arrest of Duterte is personal to me. I am happy that our collective action to call for justice and accountability has come to fruition. We will not stop until Duterte and his Ilks are tried and convicted. Pagbati sa lahat, #GroupHague at tuloy ang laban.”