Neri Javier Colmenares (Tagalog pronunciation: [haˈvjeɾ kɔlmɛˈnarɛs], born December 4, 1959) is a Filipino legislator, human rights lawyer and activist.

[3] On December 4, 2024, Colmenares and 74 others filed the second impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, citing betrayal of public trust for her office's alleged misuse of confidential funds.

[4][5] Born on December 4, 1959 in Bacolod, Negros Occidental,[6] Colmenares joined the struggle against the late former President Ferdinand Marcos' leadership in 1976.

[11] He was one of the prosecutors in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was convicted by the Senate for Betrayal of Public Trust.

He is involved in constitutional legal issues, having acted as counsel and argued before the Supreme Court in oral arguments on the constitutionality of Executive Order 464, the petition against the Emergency Rule Proclamation 1017, the calibrated preemptive response (CPR) policy, the cha cha initiative to amend the Constitution, the petition to disqualify major political parties in the party list system, on the constitutionality of the Visiting Forces Agreement (the Subic Rape Case) and the oral arguments on the petition he filed against the First Party Rule which resulted in Supreme Court decision filling up of all the party list seats in Congress.

Colmenares petitioned the Supreme Court to stop Meralco's record-high power rate hike after the 2013 Malampaya shutdown.

[17] He again questioned Meralco's plans to raise electricity rates in 2019 and accused power companies of passing on to consumers the cost of shortages they themselves caused.

[18] Colmenares argued before the Supreme Court to stop the heroes burial for the late former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 2016.

In a petition filed before the Supreme Court in 2008, Colmenares questioned the legality of the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) that the Arroyo administration signed with China and Vietnam.

[20][21] In 2014, Colmenares filed a motion for immediate resolution before the Supreme Court, citing the original petition's importance in light of the Philippines' territorial and maritime dispute with China.

Colmenares presently holds the following positions: Colmenares' papers include a primer on the Writ of Habeas Data, the Comparative Analysis of the Writ of Amparo, Impeachment as a Constitutional Accountability Mechanism, the Party List system Law, and the International Criminal Court and other articles for the Philippine Law Journal.

Additionally, he has argued significant cases before the Supreme Court, including those questioning the constitutionality of key government actions, such as the Visiting Forces Agreement, party-list representation rules, and emergency powers under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Colmenares has also held prominent leadership positions in legal advocacy groups, including serving as president and secretary general of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL).