Manila: The recent spate of assassinations targeting trial court judges in the Philippines has alarmed authorities, prompting officials to form a special body to investigate the killings.
Three judges have been killed in as many months, in various parts of the country, and the Supreme Court has formed a panel to conduct in-depth investigations into the cases.
Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te said the committee would be made up of various agencies, including the National Bureau of Investigation, an attached agency of the Department of Justice.
“Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen will start discussions with appropriate agencies of government towards the creation of a task group to address the continuing assassinations and killings of judges,” Te was quoted in reports as saying.
Over the course of several weeks, three trial court judges successively fell to assassins’ bullets. The most recent victim was Judge Reynaldo Espinar, of the Municipal Trial Court of Laoang, who was killed while inside a cockpit arena in Northern Samar in Central Philippines.
OnNovember 11, Bulacan, Central Luzon Trial Court Judge Wilfredo Nieves was ambushed while he was on his way home for work.
Nieves handled high profile cases involving car theft syndicate members.
On September 1, Judge Jude Erwin Alaba of Aurora province was shot and killed by an assassin as he was parking his vehicle inside a court compound.
Killings of trial court judges are common in the Philippines, especially those who are involved in high profile cases. It is for this reason that they are allowed to carry their own firearms for protection.
For his part, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said the brazen attack against the judiciary had an adverse impact on the country’s justice system.
Pimentel, chair of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, called on police and NBI investigators to root out the brains behind these attacks.
Although it remains to be seen if these attacks are relate, the fact that judiciary members could be targeted with apparent ease by suspected contract killers is a cause of serious concern.
He said it is important that masterminds behind the attacks against provincial judges are unmasked and arrested to face trial in order to regain the waning public trust and confidence in police authorities whose record in solving high-profile cases is “pathetic.”
The senator was also alarmed over the growing impunity not only against members of the judiciary, but the media as well brought about by unsolved media killings.
Seven journalists and media workers have been killed in the Philippines since the start of the year.
Journalists and the judiciary are regarded as counterbalance to abuses committed by those in authority or have access to it.
The Senator said no amount of inquiries conducted by the Senate would help stem the tide of killings unless the police and the military joined hands in running after the killers and for the judiciary to fast track the resolution of pending cases.
