Law activists still ‘pushing on’

Martial law created a generation of human rights lawyers, thrusting them into the thicket of abuses—of persons, of dignities, of authority, of power. That era is rich in landmark legal literature, as the laws were challenged in court. That era will never be forgotten, inside and outside the courtroom.

Returning from self-exile in the United States, Marcos oppositionist Romeo T. Capulong established the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) in 1986 to call abusers, especially in government, to account. As Philippine counsel for the “Marcos claimants,” “Romy,” as he was known to close associates, had one enduring vision: to expose institutional abuse and to exhaust all remedies against abusers.

Thus, with prudence and foreboding, the PILC is emboldened to support the cause against the return of the Marcoses to Malacañang, via vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos, a Marcos heir and a beneficiary of the Marcos regime. For even assuming that the wounds inflicted by the dictator’s hand have healed and the strains of torture have faded, the lack of genuine accountability cannot placate the seething rage of spirit.

As long as the criminal and civil cases against the Marcos family are not fully and adequately resolved, as long as the disappeared are not all found or accounted for, as long as the excess wealth is not returned to the public coffers, as long as the victims of illegal arrests and detention, torture and extrajudicial killings are not given justice, there will be no moving on.

The longer the Marcoses stay in power, masked with new spiels, or different smells, the more courage and fortitude will be needed. Romy, who would have turned 81 years old last Feb. 15 had he not passed on in 2012, consecrated us and the PILC to this mission.

The seemingly undisturbed presence of the Marcoses and their ilk in the political scene, and the possibility of a repeat of the horrors of the past warn us today how the laws can easily be made in self-interest and strong-arm, and how the rules can be bent and broken. The past revisited, as PILC assists victims in securing reparations under the Marcos victim compensation law, fires us up in so many ways. Listening to the people’s plaintive clamor for meaningful justice, we, the present generation of human rights lawyers will push on for as long as it takes us to.

—RACHEL PASTORES, managing counsel, Public Interest Law Center, publicinterestlawcenter@gmail.com