2 Aetas not coerced – rights lawyers
By EMILY VITAL
MANILA – The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) categorically denied that the two Aetas were forced to sign the petition for intervention seeking to nullify the Anti-Terror Law.
The NUPL refuted Solicitor General Jose Calida’s claim that Japer Gurung and Junior Ramos were coerced into signing the petition filed with the high court last week. The group said the two Aetas could not read or write so they just affixed their thumbmarks , after NUPL lawyer Julian Oliva Jr. “meticulously explained to them the Anti-Terrorism Act, the pending petitions before the Supreme Court, and the final draft Petition in Intervention.”