Unreasonable, unconscionable arrest of lawyers

THE two big groups representing Filipino lawyers — the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and the much older Philippine Bar Association (PBA) — have come out with statements siding with three of their fellow lawyers who were arrested during a police raid of a Makati City bar on August 16.

For the IBP and PBA, groups that sometimes are on opposite sides of the fence (such as the removal of Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice via quo warranto), to speak in unison on a matter so fundamental to the legal profession, should give occasion to law enforcement authorities to reevaluate the manner in which they deal with lawyers.