Mindanao rights lawyers laud SC rules backing grassroots advocacy

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Human rights lawyers in Mindanao welcomed a Supreme Court (SC) issuance establishing formal institutional backing for developmental and public-interest legal practice across the country.

The Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) hailed Administrative Matter No. 24-07-24, or the Rules on Institutionalizing Support for Developmental and Social Change Lawyering (DSC Rules), calling it a decisive move to embed pro-people legal work into the heart of the judicial system.

According to the group, the new framework provides crucial institutional reinforcement for attorneys working directly with farmers, indigenous communities, laborers, and other marginalized sectors fighting for land, ancestral domains, and civil liberties.

“For decades, UPLM lawyers have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with marginalized communities across Mindanao in their enduring struggle for dignity and basic rights,” the group said in a statement Saturday.

“We have witnessed firsthand how the scales of justice tilt against those with the least power and resources. These new DSC Rules offer a meaningful bridge across that wide divide.”

The collective emphasized that the high tribunal’s action challenges the conventional view of legal service as a transactional privilege reserved for wealthy litigants, framing it instead as an essential driver of social justice and grassroots empowerment.

The group expects the rules to ignite wider commitment among younger practitioners and law graduates, steering their training toward community defense and public interest litigation.

UPLM also pledged full cooperation with the high court, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and academic institutions to implement the guidelines on the ground, especially in conflict-affected and remote areas in Mindanao where access to legal remedy remains fraught.

“This milestone belongs not to the legal profession alone, but to the grassroots communities whose struggles give true purpose to our profession,” the group said.