dec 7
Lawyer Rex Lopoz, who is one of the group of lawyers defending the Ampatuans involved in the Maguindanao massacre, said that he does not believe that his lawyering for them would not affect his candidacy for congressman in the second district of Compostela Valley.
“We, lawyers are just performing our profession, we are just following processes the law and the rules provide for,” he said in a text message.
Atty. Lopoz said that “the people of Compostela Valley are not naive into thinking that just because I am one of the 40 lawyers hired by the Ampatuans, they would then not vote for me?”
“People should understand that the primary duty of a lawyer is to facilitate the administration of justice to ensure that the laws, rules and other processes are observed. Without observance of legal processes, human rights are surely violated,” he added.
The 32-year old lawyer is running independent in three-corner fight with reelectionist Congressman Rommel Amatong and former Governor Jose Caballero.
Lopoz and Atty. Anwar Khalid Maliawao succeeded Friday to get the writ of amparo from the Court of Appeals in Cagayan de Oro City for the members of the Ampatuan family against the military, Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation.
The hearing on the writ of amparo at the Solicitor General’s office in Manila was scheduled on December 9.
The two lawyers filed the early petition for the write of amparo in behalf of Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and his father, Maguindanao Governor Andal Sr. on Thursday.
In their petition, Lopoz and Maliawao asked the court to order the military, the PNP and the NBI to lift restrictions on the movement of the Ampatuans, their supporters and lawyers.
They argued that their clients and the others restricted inside the houses of the Ampatuans in Shariff Aguak were being arbitrarily detained although there were no charges against them.
Lopoz and Maliawao left Maguindanao to file the petition in Cagayan de Oro City on November 30, a day before the military cordoned off Ampatuan houses.
They said that there was “virtual house arrest” made on 15 colleague lawyers left in an Ampatuan house in Maguindanao.
Justice Romulo Borja of the court’s 21st Division granted their petition and penned the resolution. It was issued at 10 a.m. Friday. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News)
Filed under: Atty. Anwar Khalid Maliawao, atty. rex lopoz, WRIT OF AMPARO, AMPATUAN, Atty. Anwar Khalid Maliawao, atty. rex lopoz, Justice Romulo Borja, WRIT OF AMPARO
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