Edcel Castelar Lagman Sr. (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈʔedsɛl], May 1, 1942 – January 30, 2025) was a Filipino human rights lawyer and politician from the province of Albay.
Lagman was instrumental to the abolition of the death penalty in the Philippines in 2006 and continued to oppose proposals to reinstate capital punishment in the country.
[2] Lagman had degrees in political science (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1962, where he became a member of the Alpha Phi Beta fraternity.
[3] Lagman’s first entered government as an deputy minister of the Ministry of Budget and Management in 1986 during the presidency of Corazon Aquino.
Lagman also ran for senator in 1998 under the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino coalition and for representative of the 4th district of Quezon City in 2001 but lost on both occasions.
The petition[a] states that: The declaration of martial law has no sufficient factual basis because there is no rebellion or invasion in Marawi City or in any part of Mindanao.
[9] In May 2024, former Senate President Tito Sotto claimed that the Absolute Divorce bill, which Lagman authored was "lost".
[11] Another brother, Hermon, was a political activist who disappeared during the martial law government of President Ferdinand Marcos.