Human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong buried in Muntinlupa

Human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong was laid to rest Saturday morning at a memorial park in Muntinlupa City, nearly a week after he died at age 77. Capulong was buried at the Everest Hills Memorial Park in Muntinlupa City at about 10 a.m., according to a report on "Balitanghali." During the burial, militant youths held a picket as a tribute to him. Red balloons were released into the air as a symbol of revolution, the report added. A Mass was held for Capulong at the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman in Quezon City at 7 a.m. Capulong died Sunday at a Manila hospital, where he had been confined for a lingering illness. National Union of People's Lawyers secretary general Edre Olalia said Capulong had been undergoing dialysis and receiving blood transfusion for months. Capulong founded the Filipino Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in New York in 1980, and the Philippine center for Immigrant Rights in 1985. From 1960 to 1969, he served as provincial secretary and confidential assistant of Gov. Eduardo Joson in Nueva Ecija. A curriculum vitae at the United Nations showed Capulong sought and was granted political asylum in the United States in 1980. He returned to the Philippines and resumed law practice in 1986. He founded the Public Interest Law Center in Manila in 1989, and the Philippine Peace Center in Manila also in 1989. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. mourned Capulong's death, saying Capulong did not live to see the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. Reyes noted Capulong had fought for the rights of Flor Contemplacion, an overseas Filipino worker executed in 1995 for the killing of her ward. He recalled he met Capulong at the Public Interest Law Center office in Makati City, sometime in the late 1990s when they needed to consult the case of student activists from Lyceum who were facing sanctions from the school administration. "At the get go, Atty. Capulong clarified that whatever legal tactic that would be employed, that would be secondary to the political movement. He told us of the primacy of the political struggle, that this was the most decisive, and that the legal tactics should serve the political tactics," he said. In the impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada, Reyes said Capulong would provide important legal inputs. He also led the walkout of private prosecutors when the Senate refused to open the second envelope related to the Jose Velarde account. "Atty. Capulong would also be visible as a legal counsel for the negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. He would be present, along with some government officials, during the releases of prisoners of war," he said. Also, he said Capulong helped in the legal battle for the release of the dropping of the charges of rebellion against the "Batasan 6" and other accused.  The six lawmakers were arrested when former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of emergency in 2007. He also recalled Capulong standing before the Supreme Court for several hours arguing the case of Satur Ocampo who was arrested in 2007 on charges of murder. Capulong likewise played a leading role in the legal defense of the Morong 43, health workers who were arrested in February 2010 on suspicion of being communist rebels. "It was his idea to bring the case both to the Supreme Court and the Commission on Human Rights. When the writ of habeas corpus was granted, it was Atty. Capulong who stood before the Court of Appeals to argue the case and to condemn the failure of the AFP to bring the detained health workers to court. He stood up to demand that the handcuffs of the detainees be removed while they were in court. He spoke eloquently on how the rights of the 43 health workers were violated from the moment the warrant of arrest was issued up to the time they were arrested and detained without access to counsel, and made to go through a bogus inquest proceeding," he said. Capulong also spoke before the Commission on Human Rights, then chaired by now Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, on the violations of the rights of the health workers. Reyes said Capulong gave important tips on what the mass movement can do in relation to the Senate trial of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona. — LBG, GMA News