Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Tuesday, Dec. 22, that he will arrange a dialogue with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to address their concerns on the safety and security of lawyers in the country.

“I will invite the leadership of the IBP in the coming days to discuss their concerns and coordinate our action to address the increasing number of killings of lawyers, judges, and prosecutors,” the secretary said.

Guevarra made the move after the IBP sent last Dec. 18 letters to government leaders who are lawyers including President Duterte and Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo calling for action against the continued killing of lawyers.

“I also received a copy of the same letter from the IBP,” Guevarra said.

The letter was sent following the killing of lawyer Baby Maria Concepcion Landero-Ole last Dec. 17 in Danao City, Cebu.

“When lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and workers in the justice sector are murdered with impunity and alarming regularity, no one feels safe, our people lose trust and faith in our government justice system, and the unscrupulous are emboldened to take the law in their criminal hands. Lawyers who are trained and sworn to be courageous sentinels of the rule of law may understandably waver and worry about their own security and safety thereby allowing more space for violence and fear to rule instead. As we recognize our responsibilities and our shortcomings, let us restore and maintain the rule of law,” read the letter of the IBP.

“It is in this broader perspective that we seek your attention, guidance, and action on the 54 documented lawyers killed so far since July 1, 2016, as well as the many more unsolved killings in earlier years and administrations. We appeal to our brother-lawyers in all branches of government who occupy positions of great authority and power to take concerted actions to decisively address attacks on lawyers. We seek this not only on behalf of the slain lawyers, their families, and the legal profession but more importantly, for our country that has long suffered from creeping criminality and delayed or denied justice,” the IBP stated.

The IBP told government officials that it “recognize and appreciate your commitment and efforts to improve our criminal justice system” but it lamented that “lawyers, the sentinels of the rule of law, continue to be ironically caught in the spiraling violence and flawed or slow justice.”

Last Monday, Dec. 21, the NBI confirmed that the remains that were recovered last Oct. 30 in Capas, Tarlac were those of missing retired Court of Appeals (CA) Justice Normandie Pizarro who is believed to have been brutally killed.

According to latest reports, there are now 55 lawyers, including prosecutors and magistrates, who have been killed during the Duterte administration.