Beyond the Spotlight: Amando Virgil Ligutan's Unseen Crusade Against Injustice
High-profile lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan, recently in the spotlight during the Vice President's impeachment trial, speaks about his career defending human rights and fighting injustice in the Philippines. His involvement in prominent cases highlights his commitment to protecting the vulnerable and upholding the rule of law.
You know him as “the smooth operator” casually teaching the nation how a cross-examination ought to be done during the first few days of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial. You know his humorous demeanor from his viral reactions to Duterte lawyer Carlo Narvasa’s objections, and you might have also read his profile from SALiGAL Law’s website. But there’s more to high-profile lawyer Amando Virgil D. Ligutan than his recent Senate performance suggests. Tireless defender Ligutan has always been an astute defender of people’s rights. On May 26, 2023, police detained Maria Victoria “Bambi” Burdeos Beltran at Camp General Arcadio Maxilom in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, where she spent the night on a hard wooden bench outside the office of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Cebu Provincial Field Unit (CIDG-PFU). Bambi Beltran is a legend in Cebu’s art and advocacy community — an award-winning artist, writer, and owner of the iconic but now closed Kukuk’s Nest in Cebu City, and the recipient of the 2020 Deutsche Welle (DW) Freedom of Speech award. The May 2023 arrest was Beltran’s third brush with the law. The first arrest happened on April 19, 2020, due to her satirical Facebook post on the COVID-19 situation in Sitio Zapatera that had enraged the late Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella. The second arrest came on August 12, 2020, on a cyber-libel case filed by an April Dequito. Ligutan took Beltran’s case, assisting her in processing bail and ensuring she got her release order just minutes before the Cebu City Regional Trial Court’s closing hours. As of August 2025, all cases were dismissed. In 2017, Ligutan was a central figure in the prosecution against Niño Rey Boniel, former mayor of Bien Unido town in Bohol, who pleaded guilty for the killing of his wife Gisela Bendong-Boniel. The lawyer worked with Gisela’s family to avenge their lost daughter. Presiding Judge Christine Muga-Abad of the Lapu-Lapu Regional Trial Court Branch 70 sentenced Niño Rey to eight years and one day to 14 years imprisonment. Brawler for civil liberties There is no issue that Ligutan would stay silent on. Even before the Bambi and Boniel cases, Ligutan had always been outspoken on major issues like the non-renewal of the ABS-CBN franchise in 2020. “While you justify the non-renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise with whatever legal jargon you can think of, with whatever motivation for doing so, know that some people affected by the closure may only have this motivation: work so they can provide food for their children, education for them, and hope they might have a future brighter than the present,” Ligutan said. On the war on drugs, Ligutan had called out the hypocrisy of supporters of the Duterte administration who felt “safe” amid the spate of extrajudicial killings then. “I stand with the families of the victims of extrajudicial killings. I stand with the children left orphaned by the government’s ruthless war on drugs. I stand with those whose loved ones were summarily executed and deprived of due process,” Ligutan said. The good lawyer’s advocacy also extended to his peers in the legal profession. Not too long ago Ligutan advocated for a program for Lawyers’ Protection after two lawyers were killed in separate attacks in late 2020. “This is a long term program that will help our fellow lawyers who feel they need protection from the threats they perceive or actually receive. It has three main stages: Threat Assessment; Relocation; and Close-in security,” he said. But when it comes to the youth, Ligutan has a particular soft spot. The lawyer taught labor law, remedial law, public international law, among others, cultivating young mooters at the University of the Philippines College of Law, University of San Jose-Recoletos School of Law, and University of Cebu School of Law. For him, law students are a “different breed.” “There’s no satisfaction greater than when a student finally sits down after a successful recitation. The natural high it gives would last for days,” Ligutan said. After schooling the nation on how a proper cross-examination is done, it comes as no surprise for some Cebuanos that the lawyer would receive his flowers. After all, Ligutan’s philosophy has always been: “If there’s even a 1% chance [of winning]. Fight.” – Rappler.com
多角的分析
リグタン氏の活動は直接的な経済政策に言及しているわけではないが、彼が擁護する人権や法の支配の確立は、長期的にフィリピンの経済発展と投資環境の安定に寄与すると考えられる。特に、ABS-CBNのフランチャイズ問題への言及は、メディアの自由が経済活動や情報流通に与える影響を示唆しており、投資家が重視する透明性や予測可能性の観点からも重要である。
リグタン氏の活動は、フィリピンにおける法の支配と人権保護の強化を訴えるものであり、これは投資家にとって重要な要素である。特に、政府による恣意的な権力行使や、不透明な法的手続きに対する懸念を払拭するような活動は、海外からの直接投資（FDI）を促進する可能性がある。彼の弁護活動が成功し、法の適用が公平に行われることが示されれば、投資リスクは低下すると考えられる。
リグタン氏の活動は、フィリピン社会における権力者による不正義や人権侵害に苦しむ人々にとって希望の光となっている。特に、バンビ・ベルトラン氏のケースでは、表現の自由を求める市民が当局から不当な扱いを受ける現実が浮き彫りになった。また、麻薬戦争における超法規的殺害（EJK）の被害者家族への連帯は、国家による暴力に対する社会的な懸念を代弁している。弁護士自身の安全を確保するプログラムの提唱は、法曹界全体が直面するリスクへの認識を高める。
リグタン氏の活動は、フィリピン市民、特に権力者から不当な扱いを受けたと感じる人々にとって、法的な支援と希望を提供している。バンビ・ベルトラン氏のような著名な活動家だけでなく、一般市民も、当局からの不当な逮捕や訴追に直面する可能性がある。リグタン氏のような弁護士の存在は、市民が権利を行使し、不正義に対して声を上げるための支えとなる。また、若手法曹界の育成は、将来的に市民がより質の高い法的サービスを受けられる可能性を示唆している。
背景・歴史的文脈
フィリピンでは、法の支配と人権保護は長年にわたる課題である。特に、歴代政権下で発生した超法規的殺害（EJK）や、言論の自由に対する抑圧は、国際社会からの批判を浴びてきた。2020年のABS-CBNのフランチャイズ不更新問題は、メディアの自由と政治的影響力の関係を示唆する象徴的な出来事であった。リグタン氏の活動は、こうしたフィリピン社会が抱える構造的な問題に対し、個々の弁護士がどのように立ち向かい、変化を求めているかを示す具体例である。
原文ソース
Rappler Philippines