Lawyers’ arrest raises ‘grave concerns’ for rule of law — IBP

The mandatory organization for all Philippine lawyers on Tuesday said the recent arrest, detention, and charges against three of their own raise "grave concerns for the rule of law in the Philippines."

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Board of Governors said the treatment of the three young lawyers nabbed at a Makati bar while monitoring a police search "erodes the Constitution's guarantee of due process for every person" and violates the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.

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, the IBP said in a statement.

"It is the sworn duty of lawyers to use all lawful means to defend their clients. They should not be harassed, intimidated or treated like criminals when performing their duty," the group said.

Lenie Rocel Rocha, Jan Vincent Soliven, and Romulo Bernard Alarkon, attorneys for one of the owners of the Time in Manila Bar in Makati, were arrested and detained for over 24 hours last week for "intimidating" police officers searching the establishment.

An earlier raid of the same bar yielded alleged ecstasy tablets, several plastic sachets of alleged cocaine and shabu, and drug paraphernalia and led to the arrest of 31 employees and the rounding up of 125 bar-goers and staff members.

The three were released pending a Makati prosecutor's further investigation into charges of obstruction of justice, disobedience and resistance to authorities, illegally crossing police line, and "constructive possession" of illegal drugs.

Constructive possession exists when the drug is "under the dominion and control of the accused or when he has the right to exercise dominion and control over the place where it is found," according to the Supreme Court.

"In representing their clients in court, in counselling 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," the IBP 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," it added. — RSJ, GMA News