The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) denounced what it described as blatant double standards in law enforcement following the mass arrests during the September 21 protest against corruption in the Philippines.
In a statement, NUPL Secretary General Atty. Josalee S. Deinla highlighted the disparity in how authorities treat ordinary citizens compared to the powerful, saying the crackdown once again exposed “one law for the poor, another for the powerful.”
According to the group, more than 216 people, including 91 minors, were arrested during the demonstration. Protesters and bystanders alike were rounded up, with some allegedly beaten and detained under “squalid conditions.” While some are facing charges of scuffles, tumults, and damage to property, NUPL stressed that many were merely exercising their constitutional rights.
The lawyers’ group criticized how the police quickly mobilized to protect private property, while human rights violations, even those committed by state agents, are often ignored. “In this society, a broken window is punished more swiftly than the beating of a child,” the statement read.
NUPL underscored that this severity is largely reserved for the poor. It noted that while marginalized citizens are swiftly arrested and prosecuted, corruption cases and human rights abuses involving influential political figures are left unresolved. “Extrajudicial killings remain unpunished while political dynasties implicated in corruption return to office as if nothing happened,” the group said.
The statement further pointed out the deep-rooted imbalance in the justice system: “The same authorities that jail children for shouting slogans bend over backward to excuse those with money and influence. The same system that rushes to file charges against protesters has yet to hold accountable those responsible for plunder or the loss of billions in public funds.”
For NUPL, the true threats to society are not protests or property damage but the persistent “daily violence of hunger, corruption, and repression.” The group warned that as long as justice remains selective, its promise will remain empty.
“Law, if it is to mean anything, cannot be selective. Until these double standards end, its promise of justice will remain hollow,” Atty. Deinla said.
Meanwhile, several lawyers’ groups—including the Public Interest Law Center (PILC), the NUPL, and the Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo—have filed an Urgent Motion to Dismiss Complaints and called for the immediate release of those still in detention, including minors.
Over 100 individuals remain jailed for more than 36 hours without charges, a situation lawyers described as “illegal and unconstitutional.”
At a press conference, the mother of Alvin Karingal—dubbed the “fishball boy”—broke down in tears as she pleaded for the release of her son and other victims of what she called unlawful arrest and detention by the Manila Police District.
Mariane Karingal said her son, who has a mental health condition, has been deprived of his regular medication and forced to sleep on a piece of cardboard on the floor. “Hindi siya mapanatag,” she said, expressing fear for his deteriorating condition under detention.
