MANILA - The two Aetas accused of terrorism will be dropping the National Union of People's Lawyers as their legal counsel, claiming the lawyers' group was exacerbating the charges against them.
Ramos said they were frustrated with the frequent visits of investigators from the NUPL just to talk to them.The Aetas said they want the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Public Attorney’s Office to represent them in their cases, alleging the NUPL was forcing them to cooperate in their investigation.
They claimed they have “actual, material, direct and immediate interest” to intervene in the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act, since the controversial law will also determine whether they will continue to be held in trial. Watch more in iWantTFC It also asserted that the Aetas' accounts of illegal arrest, torture, arbitrary detention and cruel treatment "are well-documented and they have not repudiated these," adding that Julian Oliva, legal counsel of NUPL-National, "carefully, meticulously and clearly" explained to the two what the petition-in-intervention was about, its relation, and effect on the charges against them.