Third Bayan Muna Solon: Rep. Neri J. Colmenares

Office of Bayan Muna Rep. Neri J. Colmenares
House of Representatives
Quezon City



3rd Bayan Muna solon sharpening legal sword for House battles vs. Arroyo

The veteran human rights lawyer and constitutional expert who successfully argued before the Supreme Court the unconstitutionality of the "First Party Rule” that disenfranchised scores of winning party-list organizations is set to become the third Bayan Muna party-list representative in Congress.

Neri Javier Colmenares, who was among the youngest political detainees under martial law, and secretary-general of the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), brings his legal expertise to Bayan Muna's contingent in Congress and is expected to play a leading role in mapping out strategies to thwart the legal hocus-pocus of pro-Chacha administration congressmen.

“I am honored to represent Bayan Muna's constituents in Congress. I vow to use all legal means available to the party and the people to advance our national interests and to stop attempts of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to perpetuate her illegitimate rule via Charter Change,” Colmenares said.

Colmenares was lead counsel of the party-list organizations that filed a suit before the Supreme Court questioning the “First Party Rule” that unduly cut down the number of winning party-list representatives after the 2007 elections.

According to third-term Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, now a deputy minority leader in the House, “we are immensely proud to have Neri in our team. He is definitely a representative of the marginalized and oppressed. He has long sided with the poor people and served them even amid the hardships of detention at a young age and the loss of huge potential income as a bright lawyer.”

“The Cha cha battles on the House floor will immediately test Neri's mettle as a people's lawyer in the parliamentary arena., eri's belated entry in Congress along with Joel Maglunsod of Anakpawis and Raymond Palatino of Kabataan can only mean a louder and bolder voice for the common people,” Ocampo said.

A graduate of the UP College of Law, Colmenares took up graduate studies with the Melbourne University and consciously chose to take the load less traveled – to offer legal services to clients from the marginalized and oppressed sectors and organizations.

In recent years, Colmenares led the formation of the Committee for the Defense of Lawyers (CODAL) which highlighted the cases of murder, frustrated murder and harassments against lawyers and judges.

The group later renamed itself as Counsels for the Defense of Liberties, as it took on the Arroyo administration's violation of civil liberties, especially in 2006 during the height of the calibrated preemptive response and the issuance of Proclamation 1017.

CODAL later figured prominently in the drafting and filing of impeachment cases against President Arroyo.

As Secretary General of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL), a national association of human rights lawyers in the country, Colmenares continued his commitment to defend, protect, and promote human rights, especially of the poor and the oppressed, as he, among others, tirelessly lectured and explained the importance of the Writ of Amparo and Writ of Habeas Data in the fight against impunity among lawyers throughout the country. ###