The following is a press-release statement by Human Rights Groups Karapatan Negros Island and BAYAN-Negros; combined with that of the National Union of People’s Lawyer Visayas over the stabbing of Atty. Angelo Karlo Guillen.
Karapatan Negros Island and Bayan Negros
Karapatan Negros and Bayan Negros together with all the struggling masses in Negros island condemns in the highest possible terms the brutal stabbing of unknown assailants to Atty. Angelo Karlo Guillen the Secretary General of National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) in Panay island just around 9:00 this evening in the the street of Ilo-ilo City.
Atty. Guillen is one of the lawyer of activists who were arrested and imprisoned during the infamous Negros crackdown in October 2019. He is also one of the lawyer of the victims of the Sagay massacre in 2018.
The masked assailant stabbed Atty. Guillen in the face and at the back using a screw driver to make it look like a common crime. But we cannot be fooled by this, because we know for a fact that the state and its security forces have been targeting Atty. Guillen as well as other lawyers handling cases of activists not only in Panay island but in Negros island as well.
We demand for an immediate investigation.
National Union of People’s Lawyers Visayas
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) condemns the attempt on the life of its assistant vice president for Visayas, Atty. Angelo Karlo Guillen, tonight, March 3, in Iloilo City. Reports stated that two unidentified men stabbed Atty. Guillen in the head and shoulder.
Atty. Guillen serves as counsel in various public interest and human rights cases such as one of the 37 petitions questioning the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. He also represents activists and human rights defenders facing trumped up charges in court including the activists arrested during the police raids in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental in October 2019 and the Tumandoks arrested in Panay in December 2020. On Labor Day last year, he was arrested after responding to the illegal arrest of 42 activists who were protesting the extrajudicial killing of Bayan Muna Iloilo coordinator Jory Porquia.
NUPL calls on authorities to promptly and properly investigate the attempt on the life of Atty. Guillen. Since June 2016, NUPL has recorded at least 54 killings of lawyers and judges that are prima facie related their work. In December 2020, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, NUPL, and various legal groups raised concerns over the increasing and alarming incidents of attacks on lawyers before the Supreme Court.
#Rene Estocapio
NUPL Vice-President for Visayas
Paghimutad 