Friday, September 4, 2015

Outraged IBP demands justice for slain colleagues  | News | GMA News Online



See - Outraged IBP demands justice for slain colleagues | News | GMA News Online


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The Integrated bar of the Philippines is "outraged beyond words" at recent attacks against lawyers and a judge that have left two of their colleagues dead.

In a statement to the press, IBP national president Rosario Setias-Reyes decried the Aug. 13 ambush on lawyers Amelie Ocañada-Alegre and Briccio Joseph Boholst, who were shot in Mandaue City in Cebu. Alegre died in the attack, while Boholst and an accountant who was with them were injured.

Local police believe Alegre was the target of the killing, which they said was done by motorcycle-riding gunmen.

The IBP also condemned the killing of Aurora Regional Trial Court Judge Jude Erwin Ulep Alaba, who was shot near his office on Monday. Prior to his death, Alaba had been handling sensitive cases including land disputes and cases involving illegal drugs, the Supreme Court said earlier this week.

"The incidents are not new to the legal profession. To date, more than 200 of our lawyers, including judges and prosecutors, [have] died by the hands of criminals who have no care and respect for the Rule of Law. Most of these crimes have remained unsolved," the IBP said.

It said the government must use stronger measures to deter further attacks, adding the attacks are "not only a sacrilegious affront to all religions but a mortal affront to the power and honor of the government."

The IBP said it will provide legal assistance to the families of the victims.

"We hereby assure the families of Attorney Alegre and Judge Alaba, their friends and the public of our active and full support to the police authorities in their efforts to find and bring the culprits to the bar of justice," the group also said. — JDS, GMA News

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