MANILA, Philippines — A human rights lawyer in Negros Occidental was gunned down by unidentified men on Tuesday night.
The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers said that Benjamin Tarug Ramos, secretary general of the group’s Negros Occidental Chapter, was shot dead by men aboard a motorcycle in Kabankalan on the night of November 6.
The 56-year-old lawyer was just taking a break from working on documents for his pro bono clients when he was killed.
“He sustained three gunshot wounds at the right back side and left upper chest of his body and was declared dead on arrival at the hospital,” said the NUPL.
Ramos’ work
Ramos is one of the founding fathers of the NUPL, a group of human rights lawyers that provides free legal assistance to the victims of human rights violations.
The NUPL noted that Ramos “was for the longest time the ‘go-to’ pro-bono lawyer of peasants, environmentalists, activists, political prisoners and mass organizations in Negros.”
The slain lawyer recently provided free legal assistance to the family of the victims in the killing of nine sugarcane workers in Sagay, as part of the Quick Reaction Team.
He was also earlier tagged in a public poster as one of the “so-called personalities of the underground armed movement,” said NUPL.
“These beastly attacks by treacherous cowards cannot go on. Not a few of our members have been attacked and killed before while literally practicing their profession and advocacies in the courts, in rallies, in picket lines, in urban poor communities, and in fact-finding mission,” the NUPL said.
They also noted that their fellow NUPL lawyer Katherine Panguban was tagged by the police in the Sagay massacre. She is facing kidnapping and serious illegal detention complaints about her assistance to the survivor and witness in the massacre.
The NUPL slammed raps against Panguban as baseless and fabricated.
NUPL: ‘Who will defend the defenders?’
The NUPL lamented the loss of their fellow human rights defender that brought “distress” to them, but they vowed that they would continue their work.
“But who will defend the defenders? Our clients will. The people and their various organizations will,” the NUPL said.
"And we, the lawyers of the people will not be cowed, will not blink, will not retreat, we will not look the other way, and we will stand our ground. Yet we will close ranks," they added.
They noted that Ramos is the 34th lawyer killed since the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. Prosecutors and judges were also not spared in the killings under the Duterte administration that vowed a ruthless end to the illegal drugs.
Last June, Camarines Sur Judge Ricky Begino was shot in front of his house on June 12.