Two senators on Wednesday denounced the recent assassination of Trece Martires Assistant City Prosecutor Edilberto Mendoza and the killing of former Pangasinan mayor Aldrin Cerdan, lamenting that the incidents happened within a day of each other, the first happening on New Year’s Eve, and the other one occuring on New Year’s Day.
“We strongly condemn the recent spate of killings and we expect that the Philippine National Police (PNP) would put a stop to these senseless killings and run after criminal syndicates and their paid assassins,” Sen. Richard Gordon said in a statement.
"Nakalulungkot ang ganitong klaseng patayan na parang naging mura ang buhay ng tao. Inaasahan ko na ang ating kapulisan ay patuloy naghahanap ng hustisya para sa mga biktima dahil ang pagkitil sa buhay ay hindi kailanman katanggap-tanggap (It’s sad that these kind of killings rendered the lives of people as nothing. I expect our police to seek justice for the victims because this is unacceptable)," Gordon stressed.
Mendoza was shot dead in front of his house in Cavite on the last day of 2021. Detained Senator Leila de Lima maintained that one death is too many.
“Hindi pa ba tayo quota sa mga patayan at kailangang tapusin ang taon sa pagpatay sa isa na namang abogado (Haven’t we reached a quota yet in terms of killing that we have to kill another lawyer this year)?” De Lima lamented.
“I join the legal community in condemning the killing of Assistant City Prosecutor Edilberto Mendoza of Trece Martires, Cavite,” she said.
“As the end of the Duterte regime draws near, the culture of impunity that it has sown in the past 6 years of wanton disregard for human lives continues to wreak havoc on the lives of the people it once vowed to protect,” she added.
Gordon said he can only hope that Senate Bill No. 1947, which seeks the creation of judiciary marshals, would soon be signed into law.
“That's why we filed Senate Bill 1947 to give protection to the country's judicial workers and their families. They risk their lives to seek justice, and yet they pay the price for merely fulfilling their public mandate,” Gordon stressed.
“We hope that Mendoza's killing is the last involving any member of the judiciary as we aspire a future of protecting members of the judiciary and their families,” he reiterated.
Gordon said the bill aims to improve the administration of justice in the country, as about 160 judges, lawyers, and court personnel have been slain since 1999.
The measure primarily seeks to create the Judiciary Marshals, a body that would primarily be responsible for the safety and protection of the Judiciary's members, officials, personnel, and property, including the integrity of the courts and their proceedings.