Filipino human rights lawyer sheds light on crisis in Philippines during speaking tour stop in Montreal

A Filipino human rights attorney and martial law survivor who is on a speaking tour of Canada made a stop in Montreal Saturday.

Neri Colmenares discussed extrajudicial killings and the poverty crisis in the Philippines – and the implications to the Filipino diaspora in Canada – while speaking at the Côte-des-Neiges Community Resource Center.

Colmenares is also scheduled to make an appearance Monday at the Université de Montréal.

An estimated 12,000 to 30,000 people were allegedly killed by Filipino police and government officers under former Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte’s “drug war,” according to the Human Rights Watch World Report 2022. The victims included the poor, as well as journalists and activists.

“The families of the victims – the mothers, the fathers who lost their sons, their daughters during the time of Duterte, continue to plead for justice,” said Colmenares.

“As long as that kind of system of lack of accountability continues to exist, then the human rights violations will continue to escalate.”

A former member of the Philippine House of Representatives, Colmenares played a significant role in shaping the country’s Anti-Torture Law and Anti-Enforced Disappearance Act.

The lawyer met with Canadian senators and members of Parliament during his visit in Ottawa earlier this month to discuss human rights in his home country.

“The moment the international community, including Canada, began to express their messages of concern, President Duterte was forced to temper the extrajudicial killings,” Colmenares said.

“The voices of the Canadian government and the Filipino people here – doing this saves lives back home in the Philippines.”

Colmenares will be visiting Edmonton Oct. 11-13, Calgary Oct. 14-15, and Vancouver Oct. 15-19.