Lawyer killed in Cebu helped Bohol farmers

By J. Jala | 10:22 PM August 26, 2021

Lawyers, human rights and peasant groups are crying out for justice over the killing of lawyer Rex Fernandez on Thursday (Aug. 26) afternoon in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.

Fernandez, who recently made headlines for staging a hunger strike against the management of a condominium he was staying, was ambushed by unknown assailants on board a motorcycle.

Hugpong sa Mag-uumang Bol-anon (Humabol) said that Fernandez handled pro bono cases representing political prisoners and human rights victims in Bohol.

It also said that Fernandez also served as resource speaker to several paralegal trainings and lectures on human rights organized by Humabol and its allied organizations.

Meanwhile, lawyer Edre Olalia, president of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), decried the murder of Fernandez, who was a founding member of the group in 2007 and a counsel of human rights organization Karapatan.

Olalia described Fernandez as “passionate, intense and brave, even as he was unique in many ways.”

Fernandez, he added, handled many cases of activists.

“Even after he became inactive in NUPL later, he continued to collaborate with fellow human rights lawyers in public interest cases,” Olalia said in a statement.

“Before he was silenced, he castigated the present administration which he had hitherto placed his sincere hope on would bring change. He died disillusioned that it was not meant to be. Rest in peace already Rex. You fought a good fight,” he added.