Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Wednesday, Jan. 20, vowed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will closely monitor cases concerning slain lawyers.
Guevarra made the assurance after the DOJ held a dialogue with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) last Jan. 13 over the security and safety of lawyers.
“I understand that the roundtable meeting last January 13 provided a forum for the discussion of numerous issues pertaining to the rash of killings of members of the legal community,” said the secretary.
“In this regard, the DOJ will come up with an inventory of cases under investigation by the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), under preliminary investigation by the prosecution service, and undergoing trial in court, for the purpose of monitoring their progress very closely,” Guevarra has assured.
On the other hand, the secretary said “other issues, such as providing greater protection to law practitioners, prosecutors, and judges, will be tackled in subsequent joint activities with the IBP.”
Aside from the DOJ, those who participated during the IBP-hosted meeting last Jan. 13 included representatives from the Judiciary, NBI, Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and several lawmakers.
A day after the meeting was held, lawyer Winston Intong was killed in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon last Jan. 14 by motorcycle-riding gunmen.
Intong is among the over 50 lawyers who have been killed under the administration of President Duterte.
Due to the unabated killings of lawyers, the IBP has been prodding the government to take action.
The IBP had already written to government officials who are lawyers, including Duterte and Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, to address the continued killings of lawyers.
“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 letters sent by 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.”