Retired Judge Meinrado Paredes Dies at 79 in Cebu City

Retired Judge Meinrado P. Paredes died on Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Cebu City at age 79. The cause was complications from interstitial lung disease and pneumonia, Rappler reported. Paredes returned the Golden Pillar of Law Award he received from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines after learning that former President Rodrigo Duterte had been given the same recognition.

In an October 10, 2025, letter to IBP national president Allan Panolong, he wrote that he “did not believe” Duterte upheld the ideals of justice, integrity, and the rule of law. He added that Duterte’s regime was “characterized by the rule of the gun, not of law” and described the return as “an expression of disappointment and disgust” in solidarity with victims of human rights violations.

Before joining the judiciary, Paredes was detained for a year during Martial Law for his activism.

He established the Free Legal Assistance Group in Cebu in the mid-1970s and helped set up other chapters across the Visayas. He defended political prisoners alongside former senators Jose “Pepe” Diokno and Lorenzo “Ka Tanny” Tañada. Paredes was among the lawyers who filed a habeas corpus petition over the 1985 disappearance of Fr.

Rudy Romano and Levi Ybanez. He also represented the CERNET 27 development workers accused by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict of financing terrorist groups; that case was dismissed with finality on July 10, 2026. ” He hailed from Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur, and was married to former broadcast journalist Jane Carabuena.

They had two daughters.