MANILA — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe the killing of a former state prosecutor in Ozamiz City.
Guevarra said he has directed the NBI to identify the perpetrators behind the killing of retired prosecutor Geronimo S. Marabe, Jr, to determine their motive and bring them to justice.
He described the incident as another “murderous act” even as he assured that prosecutors are unfazed in performing their duties despite the latest killing.
“I have directed the NBI to investigate this latest attack. The DOJ will not take these violent incidents sitting down,” Guevarra said in a text message sent to Philippine News Agency (PNA).
“As we await for results of the investigation being conducted by police authorities and the NBI, let us remain hopeful that the truth will be revealed and the perpetrators be made to suffer the consequences of their treacherous acts,” he added.
Marabe was shot dead by four unidentified assailants while he was driving his car in Barangay 50th District in Ozamis City Tuesday.
Marabe served as a public prosecutor for several cases involving the Parojinog drug cartel in Ozamiz City.
Last May 17, Guevarra expressed support for the move seeking to provide bullet-proof vests for state prosecutors and arm them for self-defense though he said they cannot easily do it because of budgetary constraints.
On Wednesday, Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan Jr., National Prosecution Service (NPS) chief, condemned the attack, stressing that it is high time that prosecutors be armed to be able to defend themselves from attacks.
Catalan also said the series of killings targeting prosecutors have raised serious concerns about their safety considering that the motive of the perpetrators is mysterious.
The NPS said Marabe was the 14th prosecutor killed in the country over the last 26 years.
“Over the past 26 years, 14 prosecutors have been brutally killed, these prosecutors often called bastions of justice and defenders of truth earned the ire of assassins, and their lives cut short; their deaths until now are unresolved. Most of them were targeted in the line of duty and their deaths were obviously work related,” Catalan explained.
“The figures do not lie. These blatant attacks have disturbingly escalated through the years. With each statistic more deliberate and brazen than the last; showing how these shameless perpetrators have become fearless of anything or anyone,” Catalan stressed.
Catalan, however, assured that prosecutors will not be intimidated by the spate of killings of their colleagues and continue to perform their duties under the law.
Earlier this month, Quezon City Deputy Prosecutor Rogelio Velasco was shot dead while in his car with his children. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
